The story of an Android
by Audidriver007
Summary: It all started with a promise. To rid the world of an evil born from her very being. 21 would do everything in her power to accomplish this goal with her friends right beside her. However, she never thought about what to do after her evil half was gone. Rated T for minor language and potential gore.
1. Chapter 1

**This takes place roughly two years before Dragon Ball Super. Just wanted to let you know before you started.**

 **Enjoy!**

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Chapter: 1

Things weren't looking good for them.

21 looked around the field, noting with a small amount of despair how terrible everyone looked after attempting to stop her evil half. Tien, Yamcha, and even Piccolo were unconscious with Krillian barely holding on as 18, with tears of pain falling from her face, held onto her husband while glaring holes into their opponent. Gohan and Vegeta were the only two still standing with the later holding his arm in pain. 21 was worried it was broken.

Looking back to the ongoing battle, the pink-skinned android watched the two fighters clash once more, the force creating a shockwave that forced the conscious observers to take a step back. Goku was giving it his all while the evil 21 almost seemed to be toying with the Saiyan if that psychotic smirk was any indicator. She winced after watching the man double over in pain after taking a powerful strike to the gut, his eyes were wide while both arms moved to cover the injured area.

The android felt her eyes widen in fear as her purple twin began to charge a pink beam at the tip of her fingers. Laughing with maniacal glee, she fired the beam at Goku who was only able to instant transmission away at the last minute, appearing behind the android, his leg already moving to kick his opponent in the head. It landed, but the woman's head bent only a little, and the Saiyan failed to react in time before she grabbed his leg and began to repeatedly slam him into the ground.

21's eyes narrowed with determined anger, failing to notice a link between herself and Goku form, and before anyone could react, she dashed forward with a ball of energy forming in the palm of her hand. The woman reached her evil self within a second, unleashing the energy she had been gathering, point blank, in her opponent's face, blasting her away from Goku as the man struggled to get up from the ground.

"We can't keep fighting her like this." 21 said as she reached down to help the saiyan to his feet. That one attack had drained most of the energy she recovered during that short rest but being linked up once more was helping her recover much faster.

"I know," he agreed, watching the area the evil half landed, frowning when he sensed her energy spike, "but nothing we do seems to do any lasting damage to her."

Together, they watched as the dust was blown away, revealing their opponent to them. Android 21 felt her annoyance flare at seeing her counterpart without a scratch after taking a surprise attack like that.

"I'm going to enjoy consuming the both of you!" The psychotic declaration was followed by a powerful aura flaring to life around the evil 21, forcing the two fighters to raise an arm to block the dust and debris. "Now stay there like food is supposed too!"

She kicked off towards them, shattering the ground in the process, flying at the two with incredible speed. 21 prepared to brace herself against the incoming attack, but an arm around her waist made her turn towards Goku in surprise, realizing instantly what was about to happen as she watched him place two fingers on his forehead. The two disappeared from view a moment before the evil half could reach them, causing her to crash into the ground with great force.

The evil 21 screamed in frustration at having her meal escape once more. "Food should know that it's pointless to escape!" She searched the area, and quickly spotted her targets high above, flying away. Making her anger known with a loud yell, the android shattered the ground around her once more as she gave chase.

"It's not going to take her long to catch up." 21 screamed as they continued to play a dangerous game of cat and mouse. The two of them had an arm around the others waist to serve as a form of support, conserving as much power as they could while dodging the multiple energy blasts the evil 21 was launching at them.

Goku looked back to see for himself, "We just need a few more seconds!" he said while diverting their course slightly to begin flying higher.

"On it," the android called out, sending a barrage of ki blasts towards their pursuer. It did nothing more than create a few explosions, but it served its purpose of slowing the evil 21 down enough for Goku to finish his preparations.

The two stopped flying a moment later, turning around to face their opponent whose glare was nothing short of murderous. She must have thought they were giving up from the satisfied smirk on her face. 21 restrained herself from smirking as well, her evil half had no idea how wrong she was.

Goku removed his arm from 21's waist and positioned both hands beside his head.

"Solar flare!" the Saiyan called out, causing a blinding ray of light to shine down below him.

Screaming out in pain, the evil half covered her eyes as she tried, desperately, to regain her sight.

"This is our chance!" Goku cried out as his hair suddenly grew several inches past his waist as his aura flared in response to going Super Saiyan 3. 21 charge her power in response, preparing to attack with everything she had. Their auras intermingled for a moment before combing together to reach new heights with small rocks began to rise as they continued to power up.

"DO IT NOW!" the Saiyan roared, diving down with 21 right beside him. Goku threw his fist forward, the android mimicking his actions, and together they yelled out the technique,

"DRAGON FIST!"

A ball of light surrounded the two momentarily before shaping itself into the image of a golden Shenron, blocking out most of the sky with how large it was. The dragon roared out as it continued their previous path towards the still recovering android who managed to clear her vision in time to see a giant dragon, its gaping maw mere feet away, before it crashed into her with great force.

The dragon roared as it continued to fly down and slam into the ground, creating an explosion that scattered large chunks of land, uprooted multiple tries from the resulting winds, and caused a large plume of smoke to rise up from the point of impact.

Two figures flew out from the smoke, crashing into the ground and carving a small trench in the process not even a moment later, revealing both Goku, now in his base form, and 21. Injured and beyond exhausted at this point, the two fighters struggled to stand up, resulting in them leaning on the other for support.

"Did we… did we beat her?" 21 panted as she struggled to focus enough to sense their opponent's energy. "Please tell me we beat her."

"Sorry… but I don't think… that did it." Goku answered as he struggled to keep one of his eyes open. A strong gust of wind blew away the remaining dust and smoke away, allowing them to see the state of the evil android.

Struggling to maintain an upright position, their opponent slowly walked out of the crater. Even as far away as they were, the two were able to see steam rising from the evil 21 as broken bones snapped, forcefully, into place before mending themselves while deep gashes sealed shut without so much as a scar left behind. Soon, the only indication that they had done any damage was from the tattered remains that made up the purple-skinned android's attire.

"I don't suppose you have another, stronger, technique you can use, do you?"

"There's-" Goku started but wasn't able to finish as the two of them were forced to leap back to avoid the powerful strike from the evil android, the impact ruptured the earth beneath their feet and forced the fighters to use their free arms to block the incoming rocks. "She is not happy."

21 had to resist the urge to roll her eyes as they landed, only to jump away once more has the evil half appeared above them with a massive ball of energy being thrown where they just were. The shockwave from this attack however held enough force to knock the two of them too the ground.

"Ow…" 21 groaned as she attempted to push herself up, only to freeze when a shadow fell over her. Looking up, blue eyes met red as the evil 21 gave the woman a mocking look even as a familiar power began to charge at the tips of her fingers. The android felt someone grab her hand, and just as her evil half launched the attack, 21 suddenly was looking up at 18, who was looking back in surprise.

"Phew," Goku sighed as he released 21's hand, happy that his desperate escape attempt had worked. "Almost didn't make it there." He laughed nervously, only to clutch his stomach in pain.

"Congratulations Kakarot, you managed to piss her off even more." Vegeta said while looking off towards the distance where those still conscious could hear a high pitch scream echo all around them. "She was difficult enough to deal with before…" he muttered, glaring down at his broken arm.

"No kidding." Goku agreed. "We hit her with everything, and it didn't even keep her down for a minute."

21 was able to catch the faintest amount of excitement in the saiyan's voice.

"Which means we'll have to hit her with everything the planet has if we want to end this." Goku continued, drawing everyone's attention.

Vegeta was the first to realize what his rival was planning. "The spirit bomb." He, along with everyone else, turned their eyes as a very powerful energy signature began speeding towards them. "Kakarot, have the soul link up with me, we both know you will need time to gather enough energy to defeat her!"

"I'll help," Gohan said, stepping forward to stand alongside the Prince. "You'll need as much time as you can get.

"Even without your help I'm more than capable of holding off that android."

18 had to resist the urge to scoff as she felt a sense of déjà vu at watching Vegeta ready himself to fight against another female android with a broken to boot. With that in mind, 18 gingerly place Krillian's head on the ground, before stepping forward to stand by Gohan's other side. "We don't have time to waste, not to mention you're more injured than the rest of us, so _I'll_ fight alongside Gohan while you recover."

For a moment, 21 worried Vegeta was going to refuse, insisting that he was more than capable to hold his own, but he surprised her when the Prince merely growled in displeasure while stepping back from the duo.

Gohan nodded to Vegeta out of respect before glancing over towards his father who was already slowly rising in the air with eyes closed and arms raised towards the sky to begin gathering the planet's energy. He suddenly shivered upon feeling the soul reach out to connect with him, noticing 18 do the same beside him, and smirked as he felt power begin to swell up from within. Just in time too, because the evil 21 was almost on them, flying low to the ground with her energy flaring sporadically in response to her raging emotions, tearing apart the land as she came at them with blinding speed.

Gohan and 18 flew off immediately, engaging the rampaging android halfway in a desperate attempt to buy Goku all the time they could.

21, meanwhile, couldn't help but watch Goku, completely mesmerized by the ball of energy that was steadily growing in size while the saiyan kept his eyes closed even as the sounds of his son crying out in pain echoed around him. The android felt her eyes widen as she realized something. "Vegeta," she called out, earning a grunt from the Prince as he glanced at her from the corner of his eyes, "offer Goku your energy!"

"Have you gone mad!" Vegeta demanded, turning the full force of his glare towards 21. "Why the hell would I do something like that?!"

Instead of a verbal reply, 21 merely pointed a single finger towards the ongoing fight, just in time for them to see her evil half easily overpower a combined beam attack from 18 and Gohan, the scale of which was far higher than anything either of them could produce individually.

Vegeta's scowl deepened as he turned away from the kind-hearted android and raised his hand towards his rival, causing the spirit bomb to nearly double its size a moment later.

Then, much to her surprise, the ball of energy grew exponentially twice more, reaching epic proportions as it nearly blocked out her view of the sky. _Where did…?_ The silent question was answered as 21 looked over towards those still lying on the ground, where she saw both Tien and Piccolo with their arms raised towards their friend. They went limp not long after, having given everything to aid the spirit bomb's formation. Their contribution decreased the amount of time needed significantly, and Goku's eyes shot open not long after, just in time to see Gohan and 18 crash next to the group after taking a nasty hit from the evil 21.

"It's ready." Goku said, his voice eerily calm as it travelled across the battlefield.

The evil 21 took a step back as her eyes finally looked up towards the massive ball of energy. "W-what is that?!" she questioned, her voice laced with a good amount of fear.

"This is the end!" Goku called out, his gaze unwavering, and with a shout, he hurled the massive sphere at the stunned android.

Its descent was slow, but the sheer size of the spirit bomb prevented any form of escape for the purple-skinned android.

"NO!" the evil 21 shouted as she held up both arms to hold back the sphere.

Its speed may not have been impressive, but the amount of force behind it was more than enough to force the android back several feet as the bottom of the orb began to carve an ever-widening trench in the ground. Victory seemed to finally be within grasp for the desperate party as they watched their opponent slowly but surely lose her footing against the unrelenting power of the spirit bomb, but a collective gasp came when they saw the attack slow down to a stop.

"She's… pushing it back?!" 18 shouted in stunned disbelief while everyone else felt a pit of dread form as they heard the confident laughter coming from their opponent as she took another step towards them.

"Damn it, come on!" Goku yelled as he felt the spirit bomb being pushed back towards him. Using even more energy, he pushed the orb down even harder than before, watching as it began to descend once again only to be immediately pushed back by the much stronger 21.

 _This is bad._ 21 knew, along with every else, that if the spirit bomb failed then it would be all over for them which was why she was desperately trying to think of a way to help. However, before anything could come to mind, 21 felt the soul link her to Goku, confusing the android greatly. As she was about to question why it would do such a thing, the connection suddenly deepened, something she didn't know was possible, allowing her to experience the saiyan's near limitless determination and his frustration at having the spirit bomb failing to eliminate her other half. Once more the connection between the two deepened, and 21 felt knowledge flood into her mind, she now knew what the spirit was trying to tell her.

Slowly, painfully, the android flew up towards Goku, stopping right beside him while the saiyan in question looked at her in surprise.

"Let's finish this."

Goku blinked at her as if she had grown a second head, but when he saw her take up his current stance everything became clear, and although the question of how she knew what she was doing lingered between them, Goku knew it could wait until the fight was over.

They powered up together once more, Goku struggling to turn into a super saiyan while 21 ignored the screaming pain throughout her body. With a shout, the two pushed down with everything they had, shoving the spirit bomb into the evil 21. Surprised by the combined assault, their opponent was unable to do anything to defend herself in time, a fact that was made all-to-clear when everyone heard her shouts of agonizing pain. The attack detonated, forcing all those still conscious to raise an arm to block out the blinding light that followed.

The moment passed, the sound faded, and everyone held their breath in anticipation.

Gohan was the first to notice the malevolent energy was now gone from the area, along with the debilitating waves suppressing their power absent as well. The pure joy coursing through his body caused him to cheer in victory. 18 and Vegeta were far more subdued, the former allowing a small laugh while the latter laid back with a small smirk on his face.

The others celebrated by staying unconscious.

"We did it…" 21 breathed, her arm slung over Goku's shoulder with him doing the same as the two of them floated down, collapsing immediately upon touching the ground. "I can't believe… we actually won."

Goku chuckled. "It wasn't easy, but it's finally over." He turned to her with a curious look. "How do you feel?"

There were so many ways 21 could have answered that question. Overjoyed at finally ridding the world of a monster like that, exhausted after using all of her energy, but there was something that was far more noticeable to the android. "I'm not hungry anymore."

Her stomach decided now of all times to rumble; a sound so deep and loud it echoed all around them.

Goku outright laughed while 21 covered her abdomen with both arms, a very noticeable blush covering her cheeks. She turned to the saiyan and stuttered a response to his amusement. "Y-y-you know what I mean!"

"I do, I do!" Goku said through his laughter, wincing in pain every now and then. "That was just too funny!"

Despite her severe embarrassment, 21 felt the corner of her lips twitching, followed quickly by her joining Goku, their laughter conveying far more than just happiness. 21 even began to cry, her joy far too great to be displayed by laughter alone. But after a while, they calmed down enough to begin talking again.

"I guess we should go check on the others." Goku moved to sit up, but a hand on his arm made him pause to look at 21, who's eyes were closed.

"Please," she quietly requested, her voice far quieter than the saiyan had ever heard before, "let's just… I want to enjoy this moment a little longer."

He opened his mouth to ask her why, but then the soul within him hummed in the corner of his mind. Goku paused as an overwhelming feeling of peace wormed its way through his body. Understanding immediately, Goku rested his head on the ground beside the android, smiling as he felt a gust of wind soothe his pain.

Satisfied with its work, and knowing it was not needed anymore, the Soul departed from the saiyan.

"Hmm?" Goku peeked a single eye open to see what was going on, relaxing once he saw it nothing to worry about. "I guess it doesn't need to help us anymore."

"I guess so." 21 agreed, simply sensing what was happening beside her.

Silence surrounded them once more, but the two welcomed it with open arms. After what felt like several minutes, the two decided it was about time to head back to the others where they were greeted warmly by Gohan, 18, and Piccolo – who had woken up once again – while Vegeta merely gave a grunt to acknowledge their arrival. Goku then had everyone gather around him, instructing them to put a hand on his shoulder. Once they were all connected, the earth-raised saiyan placed two fingers on his forehead, and everyone suddenly found themselves on top of Dende's lookout.

The Guardian of Earth was startled by their surprise visit to say the least.

Goku explained everything to the best of his ability to the young Namekian, saying they were really there to see if Korin could spare them some senzu beans. After another short rest, Dende returned to the group with a small bag in his grasp, saying there were just enough for their entire group.

21 hesitated, being the only one who had never had one before but was able to consume it after watching everyone else do so as well.

"I'm just happy its finally over." Krillian said after Gohan got everyone up to speed.

"No kidding," Yamcha agreed, "no offense 21, but I really hope you're the last android we ever have to deal with."

"Believe me, I understand how you feel." The pink android brought a hand up to her chest and smiled, happy to know everyone was ok now. "I'm almost certain, Dr. Gero didn't have any additional plans on his super computer."

"Almost?" Tien questioned.

Running a hand through her hair and laughing nervously, 21 replied. "Maybe we should go back and check his lab, just to be sure."

"It can wait." Vegeta argued, facing away from the group with his arms crossed. "Even if that man did have another android being built, I doubt it would be ready any time soon."

"Well that's good to know." Tien then turned towards their newest friend, a curious look on his face. "So, what do you plan to do now?"

"I…" 21 hesitated as it finally occurred to her that she spent so much time and effort focusing on fixing her mistakes that no time at all was spent on what she was going to do after everything was done. "I don't know."

"You could talk to Bulma and see if she could get you a job." Goku suggested. "She's a scientist too, so I'm sure there would be plenty of stuff you two could work on."

"Kakarot, do you even know what kind of scientist my wife is?"

"… There are different kinds?"

Vegeta just stared at his rival for a good, long while. "I'm going home." The Prince said, flying away while ignoring Goku's protest at his sudden departure.

"Yeah, we should probably head back too," Krillian added as he shared a look with his wife, "so we can check on Maron. If you guys plan some kind of celebration let us know, okay?" he waved goodbye, and left the lookout with 18 right beside him.

One by one the others began to leave as well, until it was only Goku and 21 left on the courtyard.

"I should probably head home too. Goten will probably want to know what happened, and Chichi should have dinner ready by now as well!" Just the thought of his wife's cooking was enough to make the Saiyan giddy as he prepared to teleport home, but as he looked over towards his companion, he paused. "Something wrong?"

21's head was down, her hand raised towards her chest out of habit as something clearly weighed down on her. "Goku…" she looked up to him with uncertainty plastered across her face. "If it's alright, would it be possible to stay with you for the time being?"

Goku cocked his head to the side. "With me?"

21 nodded. "I understand your house is far away from everything, right?" she waited for him to nod before continuing. "After everything that's happened: the resurrected villains, my other half, and… and 16's destruction. There hasn't been any time to relax or even think about anything other than what was happening at the moment. So, more than anything, I would like to stay somewhere where I can enjoy a quiet evening away from technology. It wouldn't be permanent." She hastily added. "Just long enough for me to…to…"

Seeing her trail off without any signs of continuing, Goku decided to answer her previous question. "I don't see why not, we'll just have to ask Chichi first, but I can't see any reason why she would say no."

 _I can think of a few reasons._ 21 stepped towards the Saiyan when he motioned for her to place a hand on his shoulder. She looked down at her current state of attire, frowning at the huge tears in her baggy pants along with the minor cuts in her black top. Oh man, Chichi would get the wrong impression if she showed up in this! "Do you think we could stop at a-"

Goku performed Instant Transmission at that moment.

"-clothing store…" 21 sighed as she spotted the cozy looking house just walking distance from them. "Never mind."

The door to the house flew open, and the android was able to see a flash of orange before it crashed into Goku, knocking the man back a few feet.

"Hey Goten!" the man greeted his son with a laugh.

"Hi dad!" the boy matched his father's enthusiasm easily, Goten's excitement reached new heights however when his eyes landed on the android. "21!" Separating from Goku, Goten flew to the android and wrapped his arms around one of her legs to give the woman a big hug.

"Hello Goten." 21 temporarily forgot her worries as she knelt down to give the child a proper hug. "How have you been?"

"Good," he answered once they separated, "but mom's been making me help around the house lately, and it's soooooooooo boring!"

"Not everything in life can be exciting, Goten." Another voice wisely stated, catching drawing every ones' attention to the woman approaching them as she dried her hands on her apron. "Now go back inside and finish setting up the table," she glanced over at 21 who subconsciously began fixing her hair under the woman's scrutiny, "and make sure to prepare an extra plate as well."

"Okay…" Goten gave an exaggerated groan, dragging out every footstep so it took as long as possible.

"Now, young man!" the mother commanded.

The child went stiff as a board. "Yes ma'am!" he nearly flew back into the house.

"You too Goku, go inside and get cleaned up, I don't want you eating at the table with that torn Gi."

Goku grinned ear-to-ear at hearing that, more focused on the food than anything, and eagerly left the two women behind to do as he was told.

Now that it was just the two of them outside, 21 felt her previous anxiety flare to life as the woman continued to stare her down. _She certainly has a commanding presence,_ the android remarked to herself as she struggled to keep eye contact with Chichi.

Finally, Chichi ended the long stretch of silence. "Goten's told me quite a bit about you." The stern look from before faded away, being replaced with a gentle smile. "I was actually hoping to meet you in person, so I could properly say thank you." She then bowed to the android to which 21 hastily shook her hands, trying desperately to wave off her praise.

"It really wasn't a big deal…" 21 laughed nervously as her hands moved to try to get rid of the wrinkles in her pants, the android still didn't like how messy she looked. Out of the corner of her eyes, 21 could see Goku step outside with a towel in one hand and a bar of soap in the other, before he disappeared around the corner. "But, if it's not too much trouble, I would like to ask a favor."

Chichi listened as the android explained her currently predicament, remaining silent as 21 made the request to live with them, making it absolutely clear to the wife that it would only be a temporary thing. The request wasn't outlandish in all honestly, but Chichi was a cautious woman, and took some time to mull over the idea with secretly looking over the android in an attempt to find any ulterior motives 21 may have tried to hide. Finding none, Chichi smiled as she nodded to their new house guest.

"I don't see why not, Gohan moved out not too long ago, so his room should be more than big enough for you to use." The woman frowned as she noticed something. "Do you have any bags or extra clothes?"

Lowering her head, 21 shook her head, both sad and frustrated she didn't have any personal items.

"Hmm…" Chichi's thoughtful hum and the sound of water running just beyond their view was the only noise for several seconds, but with a snap of her fingers, Chichi gestured for 21 to follow her inside.

21 followed after a brief moment of hesitation, stepping inside while closing the door behind her. She followed the woman down a small hallway, past the dining room where Goten waved at her as he continued to set the table, through another hallway where they then entered the last room. The android then watched the housewife step around a large bed, entering a walk-in closet that was clearly separated with a mere fraction of the space filled with nothing but orange Gi's and blue under clothes while the majority held a vast array of dresses and outfits befitting that of a princess. 21 felt even more self-conscious, not to mention stupid, when she remembered Chichi was, in-fact, a Princess.

Chichi spent a little bit of time rummaging through her clothes, occasionally poking her head out to glance at 21 with an outfit in hand, only to shake her head after a moment of consideration. Finally, after a couple more minutes of searching, Chichi emerged from the closet with a folded set of clothes in hand along with a fresh towel on top.

"Here," she said, handing the items to a stunned android, "when you get cleaned up, you can change into those for the night until we can get you some new clothes in town tomorrow." Chichi held up a hand to halt the protest her new house guest was about to make. "Don't get me wrong, I'm not just giving you these things for free, I fully expect you to pull your weight around here during your stay."

"O-of course!" 21 was a little relieved to hear that, she didn't like the idea of simply being given things.

"Good." Chichi nodded in satisfaction, only to tilt her head to the side to glance at the pink tail casually swaying from side to side. "Although, I forgot about that when I gave you that outfit."

21 looked down at the appendage and narrowed her eyes. "I wonder…" she mused to herself, setting aside the items in hand, before closing her eyes to concentrate. The android was then engulfed in a white light that quickly faded to reveal 21 was now back in her human form, still wearing the tattered outfit from her true form.

"Maybe you could warn me the next time you do something like that." Chichi gently scolded as she took in the woman's new appearance, secretly pleased since this development would make things much easier tomorrow.

The android had the decently to blush.

Deciding not to push the matter any further, Chichi shooed the android out of the room just in time for Goku to step in, the two fighters having to step around the other in the hallway. The saiyan smiled at his wife as he stepped into the closet to put on a fresh Gi, depositing the damaged one into the nearby hamper in the process.

"So, what's for dinner, Chichi?" Goku asked as he stepped out with an excited look.

"Everything. Like usual." The woman joked, the humor and light-hearted sarcasm lost to the saiyan.

"Great, because I'm starving!"

* * *

After cleaning herself off and putting on the new set of clothes, 21 joined the Son family at the dinner table, her eyes comically wide at the huge spread before her. The woman felt her stomach rumble in anticipation of the glorious meal she was about to partake in.

Chichi was the first to fill her plate with food, but 21 suspected that was the signal to dig in as both Goku and Goten began eating with vigor, each finishing their first plate before she had time to blink. Deciding to join in, 21 carefully picked a few pieces of food to fill her plate – just enough so they wouldn't think she was uninterested but not so much that would seem greedy. She picked up her utensils and brought the first bite up to enjoy.

"You don't need to hold back, you know." Chichi stated, causing 21 to pause and look over to the Princess with a stunned look. The woman laughed upon seeing it. "Don't look so surprised, I can tell when someone is holding themselves back. Go on," she encouraged, "it's nice to know when someone appreciates your cooking, especially strangers."

Having received permission to let loose, along with her stomach demanding to be filled at this point, 21 threw away every table manner in the book to begin scarfing down just as quickly as the saiyans.

Chichi's smile widened ever so slightly at the sight.

It didn't take long for all the food to disappear off the table with a mountain of plates being the only indicator of its existence.

Simultaneous sighs made Chichi smile as she used a napkin to wipe her mouth, having eaten only a little more than a plate full of her cooking. "I'll take that as a sign that you enjoyed it."

"As I always do." Goku was tempted to undo his waistband to allow his engorged stomach the extra space, deciding not to since his wife would probably scold him if he did.

"Good, then you should be more than willing to help clean up this mess."

The man began to whine. "Aw… but Chichi…"

"Goku…" her tone held the slightest bit of warning in it, however, it was more than enough to get the saiyan moving to pick up the various plates and bowls to stack them next to the kitchen sink. Chichi then looked over to Goten with slightly narrowed eyes, her gaze alone holding enough authority to get the child moving just as quickly as his father.

"Oh! I can help…" 21 swiveled her head back and forth to find something to do, deciding, after seeing nothing else, to help clean the table, only to stop when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Not you," Chichi said, sounding more like an order to the android, "because tonight, you're our guest. Tomorrow will be a different story entirely." A thoughtful look appeared on the woman's face, fading away as she focused once more on 21. "Why don't you go ahead and go to your new room – it's the first door on the right down the hall. If you need anything just let me know."

Thanking the Princess once more for her generosity, 21 headed off to her new living space. Opening the mentioned door, the android found herself in a nearly empty room with the only features worth mentioning were the desk right next to the window, and the multitude of books along the top of it. A little curious, 21 read the cover of each book, mildly disappointed when they turned out to be nothing more than old school books.

 _Makes sense though,_ she thought to herself, running a finger along the desk and frowning at the smudge of dust that coated her digit afterward. This room would need to be properly cleaned. _Tomorrow though,_ 21 decided after feeling a wave of exhaustion that drove her to fall unceremoniously onto the bed, not even bothering to rest under the covers this night.

21 flipped onto her back and formed a tiny energy ball at the tip of her finger, manipulating it so it would hit the light switch – without causing any damage of course – to throw the room into nearly complete darkness, with the only light source coming from the stars shining bright in the sky.

The android felt herself smile as she yawned. Just a few hours here and already she could tell it would be a wonderful stay. It wasn't so much the good food, warm welcome, or even the generosity – all of which were definitely appreciated, it was a simple fact that warmed 21's very soul to the core. Something no one else her in small group of friends could have done as easily as the Son family did.

They made _her_ feel like part of _their_ family.

* * *

 **21 is such a fun character, which is one of the reasons why I decided to write a story for her. That, and the fact there are almost no stories involving her to begin with.**

 **If you're wondering why I'm having this take place before Super, it's so I can give her some time to bond with everyone a little more, and to see how her existence influences the coming events.**

 **Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed this, and I'll see you next time!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Before we get started, I would like to answer probably the biggest question I've seen regarding this story.**

 **Is this a 21 x Goku story?**

 **Kinda. You can't forget that Goku's involved, and when it comes down too it, he and and romantic relationships don't really see eye to eye. Not saying there won't be 'moments' between the two, but the main goal of this story is to build 21's character and to make her an established member of the group. And who knows, if there were some kind of 'spark' between the two, I wouldn't exactly be opposed to it.  
**

 **But for future references, any and all relationships - be it romantic, friendship, rivalry, etc... - need to feel natural to me or they just don't happen.**

 **Any who, enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter: 2

21 was completely bewildered by the sight before her as she flew just over the tree line towards the nearby market. It wasn't because the local trees were as big as any modern-day skyscraper. It didn't involve the occasional dinosaur she spotted. It was the fact that Chichi can fly by using a magic cloud. A cloud that had a name of all things.

There were a few records and documents back in Gero's old lab describing such an object, only because Goku had been seen using it multiple times in his life. 21, however, had simply ignored them in favor of finishing her own projects and plans. Now that she had the time, not to mention nothing else to do, the android found herself wanting to study this 'Nimbus' in its entirety.

"We're almost there." Chichi called out, distracting 21. She descended towards the ground with her companion right behind, and hopped off Nimbus once they were close enough, waving the cloud goodbye as it accelerated out of view.

21 kept her eyes fixated on Nimbus the entire time. Was it weird for her to think _that_ was the strangest thing she'd seen in the last few days?

"Now let's see…" the Princess started, pulling out a list while completely unaware that 21's attention was else ware. "On top of the supplies we need for you, we also have to restock our food for the month," she sighed realizing her current grocery list didn't account for an extra body that was technically part Saiyan. "We'll probably need Goku to help carry all the supplies we need. I guess that could wait till tomorrow."

Still only paying partial attention to Chichi, 21 raised two fingers towards her forehead, in a familiar gesture, while muttering to the wife, "I can go get him."

Chichi shook her head. "Really, it can wait. It's probably better this way… since…" turning around to find no one there, Chichi looked around the area. "21?" she checked the sky, attempting to find the Android's energy trail, and was startled to find none.

"Goodness, she's fast."

* * *

Meanwhile, the Android in question blinked in surprise as she suddenly found herself in the middle of a giant forest. That was the only detail she had time to process as her body instinctively ducked to avoid the punch supposedly aimed at her head. 21 yelped in surprise, throwing out a quick, but powerful, strike towards the stomach of her would-be assailant. The person yelled out in both pain and surprise as they were launched backwards, crashing into another tree. There was a crack as the person's upper body pierced through the thick bark.

Ignoring the thunderous noise of the tree behind her collapsing, 21 readied herself for battle, prepared to transform at a moments notice should the need arise. Charging a ball of energy, the android aimed it towards the flailing legs of her opponent, vaguely recognizing the blue boots and orange pants.

 _Wait. Orange pants?_ The energy dissipated immediately, and 21 ran towards the tree with a panicked look. "Goku, I'm so sorry!" her apology must have gone unheard since the Saiyan was still flailing his legs to escape his wooden prison.

Knowing there wasn't anything else she could do, 21 simply grabbed the legs, grateful that Goku relaxed the second her arms were around him, with one leg braced against the tree containing the Saiyan and pulled her friend out with minor effort. It was only after he was on the ground that 21 was able to calm down. Kneeling to get a better look, the android gave him a once over to check for injuries.

Shaking the wood chips out of his hair, Goku blinked as he looked up towards the woman. "21? How did you do that?"

"Do what?" 21 asked back as she placed both hands on either side of Goku's face to gently turn it side to side, letting go once it was clear there wasn't a mark on him.

Playing the memory over in his head, the Saiyan's face scrunched up as he tried to recall a very important detail. He came out into the woods to knock down one of the many trees for some much-needed firewood, spent about twenty minutes looking for the right one, was ready to knock it down with a single punch as per normal, and then 21 appeared right before him just as he attacked the tree. It was when he played that last part over that Goku realized what that important detail was.

Quickly moving to his knees, Goku surprised 21 by placing both hands on her shoulders while looking at her with an excited grin. "Do you know how to do the Instant Transmission?"

"Do I…" 21 realized with a start that she actually did know the technique. Yeah, sure, she had the basic concept down when Gero's super computer created her, but the actually move itself had been completely unknown to the android for the longest time. "I guess I do."

"That's awesome!" The Saiyan was able to bring the both of them up to a standing position in one fluid motion, his hands still on 21's shoulders while his grin grew wider. "When did you learn how to do that?"

 _Good question._ 21 didn't know herself how it happened. In fact, if she put some thought to it, there were a great deal of techniques that she far better now, all of them were ones Goku used. _But how?_ 21 questioned once more, racking her brain for an answer. That answer came in the form of a memory of yesterday's battle, and everything became clear to her.

"Remember how the soul deepened our connection yesterday?"

The man removed his arms from her shoulders to cross them over his chest, a thoughtful look replacing the cheerful one. "Kinda…" Goku finally answered after putting some effort into it. "Everything happened so fast that I didn't pay much attention to anything other than the fight."

21 nodded in understanding. "Well, to put it simply, the soul created a bond between us that was strong enough to transfer knowledge from one person to the other, and since you were so focused on fighting, I was the only who was able to take advantage of it and inadvertently learn your techniques." She watched his face scrunch up with confusion with just the barest amount of understanding in there.

"So… you know what I know?"

That was, without a doubt, the simplest way someone could summarize her explanation. That, combined with the look on Goku's face, was enough to make the android giggle.

"Yes. That is exactly it."

Goku's excitement came back in full. "Cool! This will make our fight even more exciting!"

Oh yeah, 21 almost forgot about that. "Goku," she gently called out to recapture his attention, "do you mind if we hold off on fighting for a few days or even a week? My thoughts are still too chaotic to focus right now." _Especially with these new techniques I've learned._

Thankfully, Goku was extremely understanding. "Sure. It actually gives me some time to find the perfect spot for us." He then gave her a curious look, moving to place his hands on his waist. "Why did you teleport to me in the first place?"

"Oh!" During all the excitement, 21 almost forgot the main reason she came here in the first place. "Chichi said we would need your help as well to complete the grocery shopping. Although, I'm pretty sure she said it could wait, but I was only half paying attention at the time."

"Alright, let's go!" he then looked at her expectantly.

Mildly confused, the android turned around, preparing to fly back to the market, only to pause when Goku placed his hand on her shoulder.

"This is so exciting!" the Saiyan whispered just loud enough for 21 to hear.

Understanding exactly what he was expecting her to do now, 21 decided to try her hand at Instant Transmission again. _Focus on the person's energy, imagine yourself there, use a little energy and…_

The two of them disappeared from the forest.

* * *

Chichi blinked as 21 and Goku appeared right in-front of her without any warning. It was only thanks to years of exposure to her husband's teleporting technique that allowed her to remain calm to their sudden appearance. However, she was surprised to see that their newest house guest was the one who seemingly performed the move. That was something that could be dealt with later.

"Good, you came back just in time." Without waiting for a reply, Chichi handed 21 multiple bags explaining their contents in the process. "These bags should have enough clothes for you while the ones over here hold some toiletries. That way you don't have to use anyone else's once you decide to leave."

Shocked by the amount of stuff in each bag, 21 made to protest, only to stop when the Princess raised a hand.

"Remember, I'm not just giving you these things, I fully expect you to help out around the house while you live with us."

"O-of course!" the android replied.

The Princess nodded. "Good. Now we can finish the rest of the shopping."

Hours later, the group of three slowly flew back towards the mountain house with 21 still very much distracted by Nimbus. Goku noticed, but decided to do nothing except give a quiet laugh, maybe he would let her try it out later. 21 was, after all, pure of heart.

Arriving back home, Chichi instructed Goku, along with Goten once he came outside, to put the food away where it needed to go before turning to 21, telling the android she could put everything away, and to come find her in fifteen minutes.

Back in her room, Android 21 frowned as she looked around. Besides the new clothes, there was nothing that would indicate this space was anything more than an empty room waiting to be rented out. It was disheartening in so many ways to know there wasn't anything she had to her name. Nothing of her previous life.

 _But that's what this is supposed to be,_ she reminded herself, _a fresh start to a new life._

21 sighed. "Still wish I had at least _one_ picture to hang up. Maybe I can get a camera for myself sometime." Deciding that her train of thought was going nowhere positive, the android quickly moved her new clothes to the empty drawers before heading out to find Chichi, who was in the middle of preparing in make lunch.

"Here." The Princess held out an apron for the other woman, waiting patiently for her to tie it on before continuing. "From now on, you'll be helping me make two of the meals every day, lunch and dinner for today. Don't worry though, I'll be sure to tell you the day before which ones I'll have you help me with."

"A-alright…" 21 trailed off, having absolutely no idea how to cook anything in general – much less everything needed to feed all of them.

Seeing her uncertainty, Chichi's features softened a little. "I know after seeing last night's meal that it might seem difficult but trust me when I say it is much easier once you've done it a few times."

"It's not just this though." The android did smile though at the woman's assurance. "I'm sure cooking a few meals isn't the only thing you'll have me do."

The Princess smiled at that. "You're right," she confirmed, "but unlike this, everything else will be focused on you."

21 frowned as she tried to understand what that meant. "On me?"

Chichi nodded. "Laundry, cleaning up your area, along with some shopping tips. Everything you'll need to know to be able to take care of yourself." The housewife blinked as she realized something. "Everything but getting a job I suppose, but that's something you could ask Bulma, I'm sure she would be more than willing to help."

"That's-!" 21 wasn't able to finish her sentence as her mind processed exactly what the woman before her was trying to do. Tears welled up, but the android refused to let them fall as she gave Chichi a grateful look. "Thank you."

Turning around to hide her own smile, Chichi gestured towards one of the cabinets. "The soap's in there, we'll wash our hands and get started."

Wiping away the moisture that had gathered, 21 nodded as she reached up to grab the mentioned substance."

* * *

Just as Chichi promised, the following days were filled with nothing but chores and lessons as 21 slowly grew accustomed to day to day life. She washed and hung her own laundry alongside the housewife, needing far less space in comparison, two very large meals were made with her assistance every day, and the Android's room was in pristine condition every morning – something 21 was rather proud of in fact.

Soon enough, days had turned into a full week, and 21 found herself facing off against Goku in a much-anticipated fight.

It was the perfect opportunity for her to try out the Gi Chichi had bought, obviously anticipating the need for training clothes. The outfit was very similar to Goku's with the orange and dark blue colors being swapped out for light blue sleeveless top along with white pants and matching undershirt – 21 had the sneaking suspicion that Chichi did that so it would match her eyes. Only problem with the outfit was that it didn't account for her tail once the Android transformed, as a result, the appendage had torn a hole in the outfit to accommodate it. Despite that one problem though, it was both practical and durable.

Which was perfect for 21 as she found herself being thrown into the side of plateau.

"Ow…" the Android groaned as she dug herself out of the rubble to shoot a glare at her opponent.

Goku, with the golden aura of a Super Saiyan surrounding him, cocked his head as he watched 21 float up towards him. "Are you sure you're up for this? You seem distracted."

She shook her head in response. Say what you want about him, but Goku was far more observant than most. "I'm fine. It's a little weird fighting one of my friends is all."

The man shrugged, and then charged at her with a mighty yell.

21 responded quickly with a ball of electric energy that was easily batted away followed by the two of them exchanging blows as the Android struggled to combat the Saiyan's furious assault. They disappeared and reappeared all across the area, the shockwaves from their attacks connecting scared away any nearby wildlife.

He dodged a punch aimed for his head and retaliated with a kick to her side. She used her forearm to block his fist before having her tail trip the Saiyan, leaving him open to an energy blast to his chest. Again, and again they found new ways to counter and retaliate against other's attacks, their determination could be felt behind every strike.

Goku suddenly backed away from the full-on assault, mixing things up by sending a volley of Ki blasts at 21, forcing her to also back away to buy herself more time to knock away the energy balls. Focusing on the volley proved to be a big mistake as the Android found herself face-to-face with the Saiyan, who had used the barrage as a cover to get the jump on her and could do nothing as he punched her in the face, followed by a flurry of attacks that left 21 dazed. Desperate to get some space between them, 21 used Instant Transmission to get away, shaking off her dizziness in the process.

Sensing the fast approaching energy from behind, 21 charged up an electrical ball of energy, growing it to epic proportions in the process, before hurling it towards Goku, forcing the Saiyan to stop and expend some energy to blast her attack away. The second the blast was gone was the second the Android used to strike at Goku's side, using the strategy he just used on her, but the man was able to recover a lot quicker and the two once again found themselves exchanging powerful strikes.

Blow after blow, 21 managed to match Goku's power with her own, but that stalemate ended quickly as the man suddenly powered up even further, surrounding himself with electricity.

A strong punch to the gut was only warning 21 had to this sudden shift in odds before she was kicked away towards another plateau, slamming into with enough force to cause it to collapse on top of her.

Goku, meanwhile, cracked his neck as he felt the previous adrenaline of shifting into Super Saiyan 2 wear off. He smirked feeling the Android's power increasing by the second. "I'm glad I had the chance to train with you!" he called out as 21 blew apart the rubble around her with one more flare of her aura. "During that battle with you other half, I was worried we wouldn't get the opportunity."

"So was I," 21 admitted floating up so she was facing him once more, knowing the previous five minutes were merely a warm-up for both of them. Super Saiyan 2 was a testament to how highly Goku regarded her. 21 would be sure not to let him down. "That's why I'm not going to hold back anymore!"

21's power began to skyrocket after that declaration. Goku smiled as he felt how far his friend had come from when they first met. He opened his mouth to say something, feeling her strength level out, only to be surprised when the android cried out, "Kaio-ken!" and his vision of white and pink was replaced by an all-encompassing red veil that threatened to swallow him in its power.

The Saiyan couldn't hide his excitement at seeing the familiar technique being used by someone else. "You know that Kaio-?" that was as far as he got before 21 knocked him away with a strong punch to the face.

 _Almost forgot she knows what I know.._

Goku powered up once more and flew back towards 21, who was already flying at him as well. The two met, and their fists clashed with great force, shattering the earth beneath them as it failed to stand up to their combined might. Then they were gone, moving far faster than before in an attempt to knock the other out of the sky. Fists were exchanged, energy attacks were used, and all the while both fighters had a large grin on their faces as they pushed themselves harder and harder with 21 needing to use a five times Kaio-Ken just to keep up with the Saiyan.

The battle raged on, and Goku found himself flying low to the ground while dodging a barrage of Ki blasts. Preparing to turn around to fly back, the Saiyan was caught off guard when 21 Instant Transmission-ed just ahead and knocked the wind out of him and sent him in the opposite direction with a solid kick to the gut. Regaining his equilibrium quickly, Goku dug his fist and both feet into the ground to slow down to a halt, using it to launch himself back at the Android at high speed, breaking the earth behind him in the process.

21 brought both hands to her side to quickly charge up a pink ball of energy. Seeing this, Goku mimicked the action, and gathered blue energy between his palms while still flying at his opponent.

"-HA!" the two fighters cried out, the separate beams of energy heading towards each other with great force. The resulting clash created a bright light that both opponents were forced to narrow their eyes too. However, with Goku still flying towards 21, the epicenter of the beam struggle began to move towards the android until they were so close that the bright light turned blinding.

Their palms connected, the sources of the beams touched, and an explosion detonated with a shockwave so powerful it shattered the nearby hills as if they were made of glass.

21 crashed into the ground, carving a trench as her body slid to a halt while the red aura surrounding her faded away as her concentration shattered. Never before had she been so grateful for having not one but two different kinds of cells that possessed some form of regeneration, it was, after all, why she could handle the Kaio-ken so well despite this being the first time.

She looked down at her outfit and frowned at the state it was in – small tears and scrapes littered her entire outfit. 21 almost groaned, knowing she was going to repair it herself once they got home. _Focus,_ she mentally shouted, almost forgetting the fight was still going on.

Standing up, 21 called out the Kaio-ken technique once more, knowing she would need it as Goku's familiar energy began to rise once more.

Sure enough, the Saiyan flew straight up out of the smoke cloud, curving around mid-air to dive bomb the area she was in, his hair growing to ridiculous lengths in the process. This was it, he wasn't holding anything back anymore.

The Android fired off another barrage of Ki attacks that acted to divert Goku's attention rather than deal actual damage, something 21 took full advantage of by leaping backwards a good distance, avoiding the Saiyan just in time as he crashed into the ground, having adjusted himself at the last minute to land feet first.

21 felt her feet touch the ground, and her eyes widened as a powerful energy appeared right behind at that same instant.

"Nice dodge."

Instincts alone allowed the Android to raise an arm up in time to take the brunt of a kick aimed for her head. The force behind that kick was far too much for 21 to take, and she was sent flying in the other direction because of it. Despite its huge drawbacks, no one would deny the impressive strength Super Saiyan 3 possessed.

Really, the only thing 21 could do at this point was wait it out and allow Goku to drain his energy with that form. Her eyes widened as she saw him charging another Kamehameha, its power far surpassing the previous one 21 had struggled to counter. The android face displayed her determination as she aimed her palm forward and began charging an electric ball of energy.

 _Battle of attrition it is._

Goku fired off the attack, its size taking 21's entire view of the horizon as it came at her. Waiting until it was a short distance away, the android brought up two fingers to her forehead, and teleported herself behind the Saiyan, swinging her leg forward much like he did to her. Compared to her, however, Goku was easily able to block the kick with a single arm. What he wasn't expecting, however, was for the Android to bring up the ball of energy she had been charging this entire time and blast him with it point blank.

Not expecting the follow-up blast, Goku was unable to properly guard himself in time, and was sent flying in an uncontrollable spiral. It didn't take him long to regain his bearings and slam down on the metaphorical brakes to stop mid-air. Goku turned back towards 21 with that signature smirk while wiping away the scruff mark on his cheek.

He shot towards her with blinding speeds, creating a sonic boom in the process, and wasted no time to ram his knee into 21's midsection, watching her cough up spit in the process, before bringing up both hands and slam them down onto her head, sending the Android crashing into the ground below. Figuring it would be better to continue the assault rather than give her the chance to recover, Goku Instant Transmission-ed to the space next to her and proceeded to unleash a barrage of punches and kicks, dealing a devastating amount of damage, ending the flurry with one last kick that once again sent 21 away at high speeds. The ground around him shattered as he flew off after her.

The Saiyan reached her within a second, a yellow ball of energy already forming in his hand on the way there, and with a mighty yell, Goku brought it down towards 21's unprotected gut. But the Android surprised him when her previously closed eyes shot open while legs wrapped around his torso to pin both arms down, preventing him from delivering the attack. Before he even had a chance to break free from the hold, a paralyzing wave of electricity washed over the Saiyan's entire body. Goku was now helpless as he realized he couldn't move his body.

21 capitalized on the moment by moving her arms where her legs had previously been. The red aura of Kaio-ken appeared around her once more as she flew as fast as she could, changing their course towards the ground, where the Android then released her captive, sending him off like a missile to the earth below.

 _Well this is going to hurt._ Goku thought to himself as his face contacted the unforgiving dirt, causing a crater to form in the process while the rest of his body sunk into the ground.

Breathing heavily, but satisfied that her gamble had worked, 21 hovered in the air with a hand covering her stomach, feeling the bruise simultaneously form and fade away as her healing factor kicked into overdrive to repair the damage sustained from that barrage.

The area beneath began to shake uncontrollably, and the Android was forced to use her free arm to cover her face when, Goku shattered the ground around him, sending debris all over the land. Then, surprising 21 greatly, he powered down immediately to his base form and smiled as he gestured towards his friend to come down.

Curious at why he had ended the match, 21 lowered herself until she was standing next to the man while he looked around the area with a large grin.

"That was a good match! I haven't had a training match that difficult in years." Goku looked towards her, his grin growing even wider. "You did great, I don't know too many people who could fight off Super Saiyan 3 as well as you did."

Blushing at the praise but frowning at the statement, 21 shook her head, deciding to correct her friend. "I wouldn't exactly call that a fight in the end, even my strongest blast didn't do any damage against that form." She winced as her sore ribs protested the simple act of talking.

"But that didn't stop you from coming up with a way to use my power, and my move, against me." He insisted, placing both hands on his waist while leaning a little closer to the android. "Not to mention the fact you were able to use a five times Kaio-ken on your first go. I couldn't even do that after months of training!"

21 smiled at his genuine praise and placed a single finger against the Saiyan's forehead to push him back to his original spot. She had to restrain herself from laughing when he crossed his eyes to look at the digit. "Be that as it may," she brought her hand back to her chest and used her other one to rub the sore wrist, "it's going to be awhile before I can use that technique in its stronger forms."

Goku nodded seriously at that. "Yeah, it may be a great way to get stronger in an instant, but your body needs to adjust to it, otherwise you might do some serious damage."

Finding herself a little curious, 21 decided to ask, "How high can you take the Kaio-ken?"

"About twenty." Goku replied with a shrug, it's been so long since he last used it.

"T-t-twenty?!" The Android sputtered in shock, she wouldn't have considered going over ten, let alone twenty!

"Yeah, anything higher and I'm sure my body would have either collapsed from the strain or blow up from the sudden surge of power." Goku continued, nonchalant, not noticing the color drain from 21's face.

Suddenly, Goku's stomach rumbled, and the Saiyan could do nothing else except cover the area with both hands as he sheepishly laughed. "How about we head back? Chichi should have lunch ready by the time we get back."

"Alright." 21 agreed, desperately trying to keep her own hunger in check.

"Race you back!" The Saiyan called out suddenly, flying off with great speed back to the house.

She stared at the space he had been occupying a moment ago, her head slowly turning to watch his energy trail fade away into the distance. "He… he does know we could teleport, right?" her question went unanswered. A gust of wind blew by, moving 21's hair into her face, causing the Android to sputter and spit out the ones that got into her mouth.

21 brought her fingers up to her forehead and decided to ask herself one more question. "I wonder if it's cheating to use Instant Transmission in a race." Figuring she could just ask Goku once he arrived, 21 teleported out of the area.

* * *

Lunch that day tasted better than it ever had before, something Goku must have figured out if that knowing glint in his eyes were any indication. The afternoon was then spent in the main bedroom with 21, once again in her human form, sitting across from Chichi – tattered Gi in hand – as the Princess went over the basic steps of repairing clothing. It was an arduous task for the Android as she poked herself with the needle more often than she would care to admit.

It got so bad that Chichi suggested to work on something more basic while she repaired the Gi herself. 21 shamefully handed over the outfit, knowing there was no point in arguing the point.

"Could you leave that hole in the lower back, please? I probably won't wear it in anything other than my true form and I would hate to tear another hole in it."

"I suppose so…" Chichi reluctantly agreed, frowning as she looked off to the side. 21 followed the woman's gaze and was surprised to see her old outfit neatly folded on the nearby dresser. "As… revealing as your other clothes were, they were definitely better suited for someone capable of transforming at will."

21 couldn't help but blush at the choice of words, knowing quite well those clothes left little to the imagination. "R-right." She rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly, refusing to look back at the housewife.

"To be fair though," Chichi continued, "I'm hardly one to judge someone based on their appearance."

The Android looked back with a curious look. "What do you mean?"

Instead of answering, the Princess stood up and walked towards a shelf supporting many binders on it. She traced finger over them until it stopped on a red one with gold trimmings, picking it up and wiping away the dust, Chichi browsed through the many pages until she found what she was looking for.

"This," she said, handing the binder to 21, "is what I mean."

21 took the object, her gaze questioning as she did so, and looked down, realizing instantly that it was a binder full of photos. After that fact processed successfully, the Android was free to glace over the pictures she saw.

There was one of a man and woman standing in-front of a castle holding a small bundle containing a baby. The next one was of the same man from the previous image – appearing to have gained quite a bit of weight in the time between the pictures – with a little girl happily sitting on his shoulder. However, the image after that one made nearly made 21's eyes bulge out of her head at the sight of that same little girl now wearing an outfit that barely did anything to cover her along with a strange looking helmet on top.

"W-w-what is this?" the Android asked, wondering if she would get in trouble for even looking at a picture like that.

Chichi smiled as she tapped on the image. "That was me as a child."

"You?" The shock was easy to spot on the Android's face as she looked back to the housewife.

"Yep," she nodded. "That's what I wore whenever I traveled around outside the castle, the headpiece was capable of firing off an energy attack, a powerful one at the time, but I'm getting off point." Chichi took the binder back and placed it too the side. "I just wanted you to understand that I'm not judging you for what you wear, it would be wrong for me to do something like that."

21 relaxed, feeling as if someone had taken an oppressive weight off her shoulders. "Thank you for sharing that with me."

Chichi's hand hovered over the binder a moment longer than was necessary as her face took a wistful look. "I almost miss that ridiculous outfit." Her voice was little more than a whisper, and 21 was barely able to catch what was said.

"You do?"

The woman hummed as she turned back to the Android with a shake of her head. "Oh, don't mind my ramblings." Chichi picked up her sewing kit and pulled out different fabrics, holding them out for 21 to take. "Let's get back to teaching you how to sew."

* * *

Later that night, when it was long past time for everyone to go to bed, 21 sat atop the dome of the house looking up at the stars, not feeling tired enough to sleep. Her eyes focused on nothing in particular despite the wonderful view of the night sky she had. 21 blew away a strand of hair that had fallen in-front of her face before resting her chin on the palm of her hand, bothered by the uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"21?"

Mildly startled, 21 quickly turned to see who was there and saw a yawning Goku, who was using the back of his hand to rub the sleep out of his eyes, as the Saiyan slowly floated up onto the edge of the domed roof.

"Goku? I didn't wake you up, did I?" She didn't think that was possible, but with how quiet the hose was at night, even the slightest creak would be noticeable.

Thankfully, though, he shook his head in the negative. "Naw. I woke up to use the bathroom and noticed your energy signature on the roof top." He didn't move any closer from where he stood. "If you want to be along or something, I could leave."

"It's fine, I wouldn't mind having some company anyway, despite the fact I actually haven't had any time to myself the entire week I've been here so far." She added that last part more to herself than anything.

"Yeah, I'm not a fan of being by myself either." Goku placed both hands behind his head and fell back so he was laying on the roof, giving the man a clear view of the night sky.

21 glanced over to him, hearing the movement but not knowing what he did, and turned back to focus on the horizon. "Is it weird for you?"

Goku blinked at the odd question. "Is what weird?"

"Working alongside people who used to be your enemies, myself included." 21 clarified as foggy images filled her mind of battles, not fought by her, in the past.

He shrugged. "Not really."

"Did it never occur to you that they may have used the opportunity to strike you while your guard was focused on something else?"

"Nope," Goku found himself curious. "Why do you ask?"

21 didn't answer right away, in fact, it took so long that Goku figured she wasn't going to reply at all and was surprised when he heard her answer.

"I guess it's just weird knowing there's someone like you on this planet, so trusting that he would entrust his life to people who tried to hurt or even kill him on more than one occasion."

Satisfied with the answer, and knowing any further explanation would probably confuse him, Goku let the subject slide as he closed his eyes.

21 glanced over once more and smiled at the peaceful look on Goku's face, watching his breathing even out as the Saiyan fell asleep listening to the sounds of nature around him. His presence was oddly comforting for the Android and 21 found herself mimicking his posture while trying to stifle a yawn. Without a doubt, she was tired now, the small talk draining whatever energy she had left.

It was there, underneath the starlit sky, that 21 fell asleep as the uneasy feeling faded away into a peaceful hum that lulled her into a very restful dream.

* * *

 **Not exactly a long fight, but it was nothing more than a training match to be fair, and just to clarify, even if 21 used a 20X Kaio-ken, she wouldn't have been able to match Goku's Super Saiyan 3 form, but you don't need to be as strong as someone in order to beat them.  
**

 **Just wanted that to be clear.  
**

 **Anyway, let me know what you guys think, and I'll see you next time!**


	3. Chapter 3

**I would like to take a moment to apologize for the long wait. Through a combination of school, work, and video games this story was delayed far longer than I would have ever wanted it to. So, with that out of the way, I'll end the Author's note here so you can jump right into it.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter: 3

"And that should be everything we need for the day…" 21 nodded to herself as she finished loading a rather large pack.

The Son family had planned out a camping trip out into the woods and were kind enough to invite her along with. 21 and Goku would go ahead to clear out the area and set up most of the gear while Chichi, Goten, Gohan, and Videl would show up later to join them with the eldest son possibly coming later than the others as he was finishing a paper. More than anything, Chichi wanted this trip to happen so her sons could spend some much-needed time with their father, something the mother continuously worried about, unsurprising given how Goku preferred training over everything else.

"Goku, hurry up! Gohan will be there before us at this rate!" the Android called out as she placed her arms through the straps of the bag.

"Coming!" Goku replied while walking out of his room with Chichi right behind him, placing a few more things in the side pockets. "Is that everything?" he asked his wife.

She checked her list one more time. "Yes, that's it. I'll bring the rest with Goten later."

"Sounds good!" the Saiyan gave his wife a large grin, giving her a simple wave as goodbye, and left with 21 right beside him. "Are you excited?" he asked once they were on their way.

"I am." 21 replied. "This will be the first time I've ever gone camping before."

"Seriously?" Goku thought it over for a little bit. "Oh yeah, you haven't been around that long. Not to mention the fact you don't seem like the camping type…"

"Under normal circumstances, I probably wouldn't." she agreed, knowing that this wasn't something she would normally do. _Although…_ an image of her and a little boy with orange hair walking through the woods with binoculars in hand made 21 question what she just said. That was the problem with having fragmented memories buried away, you could never be sure about what you did and didn't do in your previous life.

"Well… then it's probably a good thing these aren't normal." Goku's words snapped the Android out of her thoughts, and she smiled while agreeing with him. "Oh hey! There it is!" he pointed out.

21's eyes went wide at the sight of a rather large lake, surrounded on nearly all sides by trees, being fed a steady amount of water from a nearby waterfall while an equal amount flowed away in the form of two separate rivers going in different directions. The simplicity of its beauty amazed her, leaving the Android speechless even as she followed Goku down, where he landed on a patch of grass a short distance away from the lake, and immediately began to clear the place of unwanted branches and plants.

"Now then, we're going to need a firepit." The Saiyan kneeled down in the middle of the clearing and began steadily digging. "21, can you get some rocks for me? I need enough to make a ring around the hole I'm making."

"Oh! Uh…" 21 had to resist the urge to apologize for doing nothing but admiring the area, knowing Goku would simply wave it off. "Sure, no problem."

After depositing her bag next to Goku's, 21 began to search the area for the requested item. It didn't take long for the woman to realize there wouldn't be enough rocks in the clearing, so she ventured out towards the lake. There she was easily able to gather plenty of what was needed, and before she headed back, 21 took a moment to appreciate the crystal, clear lake before her. "Yep," the Android whispered to herself, "this was definitely a good idea.

Returning with the items needed, the duo worked quickly to finish up setting the rest of the gear they had. It was nearly one hour later when the two of them were able to sense Chichi and Goten approaching them with the former wearing some outdoor clothing with a pack to match while the latter carried a comically large bag.

"Sorry, it took us longer to finish packing than I expected." Chichi apologized as Nimbus flew off into the distance. The woman smiled as she looked around the area. "Although, I guess it did give you two plenty of time to set everything up."

Goku grinned at her words. "Yep! 21 was a big help getting it all done."

"You're welcome!" the Android shouted from within the forest, emerging not much later with a bundle of decent sized sticks to use as fire wood. "A few more trips like that and we should have enough to last us the trip."

Goten's eyes shined at the thought of going into the woods, so he turned to his mother with a pleading look. "Mom, can I help 21 gather the firewood?"

"Sure. Just don't go too far!" the housewife said with a nod, shouting the last bit when he immediately ran into the woods to join the Android.

"Bet I can gather more wood than you!" Goten challenged as he ran past a surprised 21.

"I… wha…?" She questioned briefly, only to narrow her eyes playfully at the kid. "Not if I have anything to say about it!"

Chichi laughed as she heard her second son's impromptu challenge, he was definitely acting more like his age than Gohan ever did. _No surprise considering how different their lives were._

Hearing sparks being made, the Princess looked over to see her husband next to the fire pit, blowing into it to get the fire going. "Need any help?" she asked, knowing what the answer would be.

"Naw, I've got it." Goku blew into the stack of wood one more time and watched with a satisfied gleam when the sticks caught fire. "There we are." The Saiyan finished setting up a small stand over the fire while his wife began unpacking to get lunch cooking. There would probably be enough food to feed a small village by the time she was done.

"Goku, do me a favor and set up our tents, I can't do it right now. They're in the bag Goten brought."

"Thanks!"

More time passed, Goten and 21 returned with the young half-Saiyan bringing back more wood then the Android, although, the content smile on her face told the adults who would have really won if the competition had been taken seriously. Then, under Chichi's instruction, both Goku and Goten went to the lake to catch a few fish to add to the meal while 21 assisted with preparing the meal.

It was while the brown-haired woman was chopping up vegetables, her hair tied back in a ponytail, that she sensed two more energy signatures coming their way. "Gohan and Videl are almost here!"

"Are they?" Chichi asked, her look changing from questioning to happy in mere moments. "Wonderful!"

21 smiled as well, looking up in-time to see the two fly down to land where the main camp site was set up.

"Hey, sorry we're late!" Videl called out first, sporting her own set of camping clothes with a matching pack, her longer hair tied back into a ponytail like 21's. "It took us _forever_ to pack everything we needed."

"It also didn't help that I was spending half the time working on my papers." Gohan added while scratching the back of his head, dressed in the same Gi the Android had seen him in when they first met.

Trying to hide a laugh by pretending to cough, 21 looked at the two with understanding. "I'm pretty sure everyone had the problem today."

Her comment made Chichi laugh as she welcomed the two with a hug. "Gohan, why don't you go help your brother and father, they're at the lake trying to catch some fish. Videl, you can place your gear in our tent, it's the one on the left, and then relax. We're almost finished getting lunch ready."

"Sure thing." Gohan tossed his bag off to the side, walking off towards the body of water immediately after.

Videl, unlike her fiancée, hesitated. "I could help get a table set up, if you want." As much as she liked the idea of kicking back to relax, it felt wrong to sit by doing nothing.

"Hmm…that's a good idea. You see that pack over there? It has the folded-up table and chairs inside it. Can you set them up between us and the lake?"

The young martial artist nodded. "No problem."

21 watched Videl get to work immediately and picked up her cutting board to bring it over to the large pot of soup Chichi was stirring, dumping the vegetables while making idle chit-chat. "You sure know how to take charge in these situations."

"Years of practice." The Princess responded, gesturing for the Android to add more wood to the fire. "You can't marry a Saiyan without being able to reign them in to some capacity. And even then, Goku can be quite the handful sometimes."

"I can only imagine." 21 commented, having only known the man for roughly a month. Then a thought occurred to her. "Does Bulma have the same problem with Vegeta? I know you two talk quite often."

The house wife bit the bottom of her lip as she thought the question over. "It's…similar, in the way that both want to train all the time, but the difference between the two is that Vegeta can do so without any consequences."

21 frowned at that. "What do you mean?"

"Bulma is a genius-level inventor, running one of the largest companies in the world, and brings in enough income to easily take care of everyone in her house. Vegeta doesn't need to bother taking care of his family, financially at least, because Bulma can do so far more easily. Goku doesn't have that luxury because, while I may be the daughter of the Ox-King, we don't have any substantial income to take care of ourselves."

"So…" the Android felt her heart go out to the woman as she began to understand her plight. "Is that why you learned all those household skills?"

"Pretty much," Chichi answered with a shrug, surprising 21. Seeing the look, Chichi continued. "Don't get me wrong, I'm not mad or anything about the situation, in-fact, it's probably a good thing I've learned everything I did. As I'm sure you know, being able to take care of yourself is incredibly satisfying."

21 had to agree to that.

"However, there does come a time when I wish he would just… just _settle down._ " The weight behind those words made 21 feel something for the woman she never thought she would feel.

Pity. Pity for the person who must have given so much up to be with the person she loved, only for him to never return the favor.

The moment passed, and the mood lightened up as Chichi shrugged once more. "But that's one of the reasons why I fell in love with him in the first place, his spirit isn't something that will ever settle down."

"That's…good." 21 replied as she went back to cut up some more vegetables, her mind now occupied by what the housewife just admitted.

In-fact, those thoughts would plague her mind throughout the day, preventing her from truly enjoying herself, although she did have some fun when everyone went out fishing together – especially when it had turned into a competition with Gohan winning it in the end. Later, when the sun had set, and everyone decided to go to bed, 21 would find herself unable to sleep as her brain simply refused to let go of the topic. That, and the fact that Videl snored far louder than one would think was possible.

Heaving a sigh, the Android placed a light jacket on and exited the shared tent the women were staying in. 21 was surprised when she looked up to see Gohan sitting besides the fire, occasionally poking it with a stick to get another side of a log burning. She quietly called out to him while approaching. "Having trouble sleeping?"

The young man, clearly startled by her, jumped in surprise, accidentally kicking one of the burning logs out of the pit. "21? Oh crap!" Gohan moved quickly to place the log back in, quietly exhaling and wiping the soot off his hands when that was done. "Sorry about that. I wasn't expecting anyone else to still be awake."

"No, no, it's… it's fine, I wasn't either." 21 said as she sat down across from the Scholar, glancing down at his hands before looking back up. "You ok?"

"What?" It took a second for him to realize what she was referring too, but he quickly waved off her concern once he did. "Oh yeah, I'm fine. It didn't actually hurt, really."

"I figured as much but thought I'd check, just to be sure." The Android held her hands out near the fire, enjoying the warmth. "You still haven't answered my question."

"Ah…" Gohan shook his head in the negative. "It's not that, just wasn't tired. That, and I forgot how loud Goten and dad snore."

21 gave a short laugh at that. "I'm surprised you're not used to that, you've lived with them your whole life. Not to mention the fact that your fiancée snores just as loud as them."

Gohan's own laugh held hints of embarrassment in it. "Yeah well, I never slept right next to them in the past. Videl…" he sighed. "I'll be honest, I actually wear earplugs most of the time, so it doesn't bother me back home."

This time, when she began to laugh again, 21 had to place a hand over her mouth so the noise wouldn't potentially wake anyone. "Really?" she asked between chuckles. "Does she know?"

"Not that I know of." He replied with both hands covering his face. "It's not like she can help it or anything, so I figured, 'why embarrass her?' I can only assume mom isn't affected because she's spent so many years sleeping next to dad."

"Yeah, that makes sense." 21's laughs died down into quiet chuckles. The humor died down until the duo went left with a comfortable silence with the only noise emitting from the occasional crackle of wood burning.

Eventually, Gohan broke the silence. "21, you've been training with my dad, right?"

"Yeah, but it's more like sparring than actual training." 21 answered, she and Goku had agreed to a weekly fight. Goku wanted to do it because he loved to fight – go figure – while 21 did so because it gave her an excuse to use her true form. That… and the Android enjoyed cutting loose every now and then, she blamed the Saiyan in her for that.

"I'm only asking because I plan on fighting him tomorrow." Gohan continued as he stared at the fire, obviously lost in thought. "After everything that happened with your evil half, I realized that something is always going to put the world in danger, and I'm going to need to stay in shape if I want to keep protecting it alongside my dad."

21 smiled at the eldest son. "I'm sure Goku will be more than happy to hear that."

Gohan smiled as well. "Well, I guess I'll find out tomorrow."

* * *

 _Oh yeah, he was definitely happy about it._ 21 thought as she watched, along with everyone else, as the fight between father and son took place over the lake. The two men collided in midair once more, creating a gust of wind that blew back the hair of everyone present.

"They'll defiantly enjoying themselves." Videl commented, only able to see the two when they clashed with one another. "If this is anything like how their regular battles go, then I'm glad I wasn't anywhere near them."

Chichi shook her head, an exasperated smile on her face as she watched Gohan punch Goku into the lake. "Believe me, it's not as enjoyable when you know the opponent could potentially kill them if they're not careful."

"Yep," 21 agreed, having been the epicenter of the last, climatic battle.

-SoA-

The two men clashed once more, with Goku as a Super Saiyan while Gohan appeared to be in his Ultimate form.

"You know, I've always been curious about how powerful this form of yours was." Goku said as he applied more pressure to his son's opposing fist. "You were able to hold your own quite well against Buu – even when he absorbed Gotenks and Piccolo."

"Truth be told, I've never had the chance to test out the limits of it." The half-Saiyan confessed as he easily matched his father's force. His arm wasn't shaking at all from the clash. "Wasn't able to do so against the evil 21 either because of that inhibitor affecting all of us." Gohan suddenly moved his fist so it was resting on Goku's wrist, using the leverage to swing his body around to kick his father in the face, sending him off in the other direction.

Goku flared his power out and stopped before he went too far. The man raised his fist to wipe a small amount of blood off his lip and gave a whistle of appreciation. "Well, no matter what anyone says, that power of yours is certainly something else."

"What? Giving up already?" Gohan asked with the barest amount of cockiness in his voice.

The full-blooded Saiyan merely smirked in response and charged back in with a battle cry.

Back on the beach, the two humans gave up trying to keep track of the fight at this point, as it had gone up to a whole other level entirely, and merely took turns glancing between the two who were able to keep track, Goten's eyes were wide with awe and excitement while 21 merely followed the battle with a calm look, and looking back up when the two momentarily came to view to exchange a barrage of kicks and punches.

Not once did the battle ever go beyond the boundary of the lake as it must have been some unspoken rule that doing so would be the equivalent of being knocked out of bounds. That, or the duo were making an effort to keep the battle contained as to prevent any unwanted destruction. That theory was literally blown away when the two exchanged fists on the surface of the water, causing decent sized waves to flood some of the area.

21 merely flicked her wrist to create a counter wave to prevent their space from being affected.

"HA!" Goku cried out as he delivered an uppercut to Gohan's jaw, knocking him high into the air before giving chase.

The eldest son recovered quickly enough to dodge the incoming strike while retaliating with a backhanded fist that was caught, albeit with some effort. They both struck at the same time, Goku kneeing his son's back while Gohan fired off an energy attack that separated the two once more.

Gohan gave a grunt in pain from the strike and flew back at high speeds to attack, kicking his father down towards the lake while firing off a barrage of Ki blasts.

Had anyone bothered to ask Goku how he felt during all of this, he would have replied with a single word. Proud. Proud that his son had regained some of his fighting spirit. Proud that he was making an effort to keep up his strength by challenging his own father. It was times like these where Goku wondered what would have happened had his son embraced the thrill of fighting, but the moment passed, and he was back to focusing on batting away the incoming attacks.

Back on the beach, 21 blinked as she felt Goten's power beginning to rise. Turning to look at the boy, she saw him shaking with excitement as the battle above them continued to escalate. It was clear to see he wasn't going to be able to sit still any longer.

"Mom, I want to fight to!" the young half-Saiyan declared, refusing to take his eyes away from his brother and father.

"Ab-!" Chichi started, only to falter when she saw the look on her child's face, and so, after a brief moment of hesitation, the woman sighed. "Alright. Go on and show them what you're made of!"

With his mother's encouragement, Goten powered up to Super Saiyan and took off with a cheer. He made his presence known by punching his father in the face.

Videl looked over towards Chichi with a raised eyebrow. "I'm surprised you let him join them." There was a question implied in that statement, one that probably required information from a previous interaction the two had that 21 didn't know about.

"I know." Chichi admitted. "Gohan and Goten would probably be able to tell you how many times I refused to let him go out and practice martial arts in favor of having them study, but no matter what I did, the two of them would always end up fighting. I guess at this point I'd rather have them be strong enough to be able to protect themselves more than anything. Plus, its pretty much the only thing the three of them can do together."

"Really?" Videl questioned. She was surprised when 21 of all people answered her.

"Yeah, Goku only really bonds with people through fighting. That or fishing, but only because it involves food."

Chichi nodded to her words, and Videl was left wondering just how many people have fought Goku as she focused back on the fight.

"Goten?!" Gohan blocked his younger brother's attack with ease, only for the confusion from his addition to cost him when Goku used Instant Transmission to appear just above him and attack his unguarded head.

Goku then punched his youngest son away, But Goten was able to raise both arms in time to take the brunt of the damage.

"You'll have to try harder than that, dad!" Goten then charged up a Kamehameha and fired it off at his father.

The full-blooded Saiyan smirked in response, firing off his own beam attack that detonated with his son's as soon as it made contact, creating a smokescreen that abscured their view of one another. A figure emerged from the smoke, heading straight for Goten, but it wasn't who the young half-Saiyan was expecting. A head of dark hair was the first and last thing Goten was able to see before he was forced to double over as Gohan rammed his knee into his younger brother's gut.

"Careful Goten, you can't let your guard down like that." Gohan chastised, he immediately frowned when he heard laughter coming from the golden-haired boy.

"Then it's a good thing I didn't!" Goten looked back up with a smile before slamming both fists into his brother's chest. He focused his energy and fired off a point-blank beam that carried Gohan a short distance away. "I'm not done yet!" he declared as he opened his mouth to allow a strange substance to come out.

The substance formed itself into two ghostly Gotens. "Super Ghost Kamikaze Attack!" Goten declared as the ghosts flew towards the surprised Gohan, who reacted by punching the creatures away, only to realize his mistake when they began to glow.

 _Right, 'Kamikaze' is part of the name._

That was all he could think before the ghosts detonated.

"Ha! I've been working on doing that move out of the fusion for months now!" Goten proudly stated, placing both hands on his hips. He was promptly kicked away by Goku, who had flown at him at high speeds.

"Your brother isn't your only opponent, Goten." The father reminded while the smoke from the kamikaze attack blew away entirely, showing that Gohan had taken only a little bit of damage from the attack.

With a look of shared excitement, the three vanished from sight, and the air above the lake _erupted_ with multiple shockwaves.

The three onlookers would watch the ensuring battle between the male members of the Son family with varying reactions. Chichi would bring up her hand and nervously bite down on one of the fingers, worried one of the kids would get seriously injured fighting their father. Videl merely furrowed her brow as she concentrated on just trying to watch them. 21 would be the only one appearing calm as the Android decided to rest her chin on both of her palms, the tiniest smiles appearing in the process.

Goku and Gohan suddenly appeared in view, both delivering a kick to Goten's chest, knocking the youngest into the lake with a big splash. The father then used Instant Transmission to avoid the punch aimed for his side and held his arms out to his side as the familiar blue-glow of the Kamehameha made itself known.

The eldest son saw this and didn't bother charging his, merely calling out the technique before firing it at his father, who did the same in response, causing the two beams to meet each other halfway to begin fighting for supremacy.

"I'm going to get Goten out of the lake!" Chichi was already on her feet by the end of the sentence, but a single hand on her arm prevented the woman from moving. She looked over, surprised to see 21 holding her back.

"He's not done yet." The Android explained, and before Chichi could question how she knew that, both her and Videl stumbled when the ground beneath their feet began to shake as the half-Saiyan in question charged out of the water, his golden aura roaring to life as he flew up to face Gohan's unguarded back.

"Ka…Me…" Goten began, catching the attention of his brother.

"Aw crap baskets." Gohan muttered as he looked between his father and brother, multiple options going through his mind, before one that would allow him to truly test his power emerged. Removing one hand from the beam already clashing with his father's, the elder brother smirked as another Kamehameha formed in his free hand.

"…Ha…Me…" the youngest continued, his gaze becoming even more fierce as he poured more power into the attack.

"HA!" They cried out together, their in attacks slammed into each other, fighting for dominance as well, but this clash was not as spectacular as the one between Goku and Gohan, so much so that the elder half-Saiyan began to focus on that struggle more than the other.

In that single moment that Gohan turned away from his brother, Goten felt two distinct emotions surge. Despair that he was so weak his own brother wasn't giving him the attention he wanted, and anger. Raw, harsh, _powerful_ anger.

"I'm not done yet." Goten whispered as his hair began to spike a little higher. "I'm not done yet!" He called out as a single spark of lightning was the only warning everyone present had before the boy yelled out at the top of his lungs. "I'M NOT DONE YET!"

And for the first time in his life, Goten ascended to new heights, reaching Super Saiyan 2 on his own!

Gohan whipped his head around upon feeling the immense powerup, grunting as the blue beam heading from the child of the group nearly tripled in size, forcing him to shove far more power into countering the clash.

Goku suddenly laughed as he also powered up to the next level. "You said you wanted to test out your strength, Gohan, so let's really test its limits!" The father then gave another battle cry as his own Kamehameha grew as well.

 _Maybe I bit off more than I could chew._ Gohan wondered as the beams slowly-but-surely closed in on him, the force of the clash blowing apart the lake, most of its water being sent out past the shore in the form of huge waves. It was there that he realized this couldn't have been his full strength; at the peak of his power, the eldest son would have easily overwhelmed these attacks. So why couldn't he now?

 _Questions for later._ The young-man decided as the two beams grew closer and closer. If he couldn't overwhelm them, then he could at least make sure they took some damage along with him!

Gohan yelled out as he used the remainder of his power to push back the attacks, his muscles straining from the exertion, and with one final shove, the clashing beams detonated with such power that the first row of trees next to the lake were blown away entirely. 21 was actually forced to grab the two women next to her and create a barrier that shielded them from the shockwave.

"Are they insane?!" Videl yelled as she held onto the Android for dear life. It wasn't necessary but watching the explosion so close scared her a little more than she would like to admit.

"Knowing them, the answer is probably yes!" 21 yelled over the roaring winds, waiting for the excitement to die down before lowering the energy dome, she then turned her gaze upwards towards the large plume of smoke, waiting for it to clear away to see the results of the attack.

That turned out to be unnecessary when the three males fell out of the smoke, all of them back in their base forms, covered from head to toe in injuries. Their exhaustion was clear to see, especially when they crashed into the lake with a small splash, being unable to do anything more than float on the water's surface. Even as far away as they were, the women were able to hear their laughter, and it only infuriated Chichi as she began swimming towards Goten.

The mother collected her youngest in her arms, sending a light glare towards her husband, who couldn't see it from where he was at, before making her way back towards the shore while Videl floated towards her fiancé to gather him up in her arms before heading back herself.

"So… did you enjoy yourself?" 21 asked as she floated over the beaten and battered Goku, her arms crossed as she tried to hold back the smile that would have given away her amusement.

The man laughed again, his own smile widening a bit even if it was slightly droopy from the exhaustion. "Oh yeah… it was greeeeeeeat…"

"I'm glad." She laughed as well, grabbing hold of his arm to bring him back along with the others, keeping his body in the water to prevent anymore strain on it.

* * *

After a quick session of first aid, followed by a not-so quick scolding from Chichi, the group found themselves sitting around a campfire, making smores while the patched-up men continued to praise each other about the fight, much too the house wife's ire while 21 and Videl shared bemused looks.

"You really surprised me by going Super Saiyan two, Goten." Gohan praised as he leaned against the back of the log they were resting on, preferring the smooth feeling of grass on his legs over the rough bark. "That, and the fact you were able to use a technique normally only your fusion could do."

Goten was absolutely beaming from the compliments even with the number of bandages and gauze wrapped around his body. "Hehe, thanks! I made a bet with Trunks that I'd be able to do one of the moves without being in the fusion."

"I bet he'll be surprised once you show him." 21 immediately frowned as she pulled out the burning marshmallow from the fire. She watched as the burnt treat slowly fell off the stick, landing on the ground with a plop. "Huh…"

Videl took pity on the Android and handed the woman her own perfectly roasted treat.

Goku was the next to praise his youngest on his accomplishments, offering some advice in controlling the Super Saiyan 2 form, he then shifted his praises and suggestions to Gohan. The young man listened to his father, offering an occasional nod to his words. The advice was cut short when Chichi tugged on the Saiyan's ear, scolding him even more for taking the fight as far as he did.

"They're quite the family." Videl whispered to 21 as the two of them watched the male members of the Son family trying their best to calm down the Matriarch of the household, only succeeding in diverting the verbal lashing from Goku to Gohan and Goten.

"Yeah…" 21 agreed, Chichi's words from yesterday coming back to mind. Watching them now though, the Android couldn't help but give a soft smile at the scene, knowing that the Princess loved her family dearly, even if things didn't turn out the way they expected. "They sure are."

The rest of the day after that was relatively calm, granted, Chichi was still irate at how much damage her 'baby boy' had taken during the spar, but a subtle reminder from 21 that she was the one who allowed Goten to join in made the housewife groan in response, and she eased up soon after. A few people switched roles during the meal prep, Goku and Gohan assisted Chichi in preparing the main course – with the full-blooded Saiyan restricted to stirring the pot of stew under his wife's watchful gaze – while 21, Goten, and Videl went out to the lake to catch some more fish for them. Soon enough, night descended upon the sight once more, and everyone retired for the night to get some much-needed sleep.

When the morning came, it was Videl who woke up first, letting out a big yawn as she walked out of tent with a jacket on – the mornings were especially cold until the sun finished rising. The young woman slowly walked over towards the other tent, wiping away the sleep out of her eyes during the short journey, and leaned in close to whisper-call her fiancée. "Gohan, are you awake?"

There was a little bit of shuffling coming from inside the tent before she received a drowsy reply. "Videl? Yeah… I'm up… is something wrong?"

"No," she quickly replied, trying her best not to wake up the other two in Gohan's tent, "I just wanted to know if you'd go on a short hike with me."

"Oh… sure… just give me a second." His reply made it clear he was still half-asleep, and Videl had to resist the urge to giggle as she imagined him searching for his clothes with half-lidded eyes. It didn't take long before the zipper began to move, allowing her to see Gohan as he stumbled out onto the grass, letting out his own yawn as he finished putting on his pants with a confused murmur.

"Don't remember them be so difficult to put on…"

He turned back around to close the flap, and the female Martial Artist blinked as something came to view, something so bizarre that she let out an involuntary yell that woke everyone up with a start, and even scared the nearby birds away.

Gohan whirled on the spot, looking at Videl with a startled look as she shakily pointed a finger at him, incomplete stutters coming out of her mouth that made it impossible for him to understand.

Chichi was the next person to show up, shooting out of the tent with a frying pan in hand – why there was one in the tent only she would be able to answer – as the housewife looked around the area, ready to smack whatever had startled Videl. 21 exited in a much calmer fashion, not as wide awake as the Princess, but alert enough to fight if the situation called for it.

"What's going on?" Goku asked, slowly crawling out of his tent with Goten hanging on his back, the young half-Saiyan complaining about how early it was.

"Videl, what's the matter?" Gohan asked, ignoring the others in favor of figuring out what was wrong.

"Y-y-you…" she trailed off once more, but then her eyes locked on to what was freaking her out, and in a motion that was far quicker than the others were expecting, the young woman reached out with an arm to grab hold of something behind Gohan's back, causing him to stiffen immediately before falling down onto the ground. With him on the dirt, unable to move, everyone there was able to see the brown tail coming from the half-Saiyan's lower back.

"Whoa…" Goten was the first to say something, his eyes wide at the sight. He then glanced down, and excitedly called out "Dad! You have a tail too!"

"I do?" Goku questioned, looking back and finding that there was, in-fact, a tail swaying back-and-forth like when he was a kid.

Along with himself, Chichi, Gohan, and even 21 were left confused as to how the tails had regrown, Goten was just a bundle of excitement and disappointment once he realized he didn't have a tail as well, and Videl decided to ask, what she believed, to be a very normal question in this situation.

"You guys used to have tails?!"

* * *

 **Accomplished another thing I wanted to do with this story, and that was giving Gohan motivation to continue his training while balancing out his work life. That, and making Goten a moment to shine against his brother and father.**

 **Well, hopefully it doesn't take me as long to finish the next chapter. Until then, I hope you all have a wonderful day!**


	4. Chapter 4

**I was wrong, so very wrong. It took longer for me to complete this chapter than it did for any other I've worked on. If you're wondering why, it's because I just got a new job that took over a month to train for. That, on top of school, limited the amount of time and energy I could devote to actually writing. So I would like to apologize and thank everyone who's been waiting for this update. You all rock.**

 **With that out of the way, enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter: 4

The Capsule Corp building was easily recognizable by everyone who lived in West City. It's size and logo being some of the few things that gave it away. However, in recent years, the addition of a spherical ship sitting on its yard had confused people at first especially since it never seemed to go anywhere, unaware that its purpose wasn't for travel, but training instead.

And two full-blooded Saiyans were taking full advantage of gravity chamber at this very moment.

"So, yours grew back around the same time, huh?" Goku asked as he threw a punch at his sparring partner.

"About a week ago, so yes." Vegeta responded, blocking the hit while responding with a kick.

"Huh," The Earth-raised Saiyan back-flipped away to dodge and dashed back to reengage the man. "Any idea why?"

"I would be lying if I said I did, but at the very least a guess could be made. The purpose of a Saiyan tail was to allow us to grow stronger with the use of a full moon, transforming into a Great Ape to grow ten times stronger."

"Right. What does that have to do with anything?"

Vegeta huffed, spun around, and nailed Goku in the chest with a spin kick that sent the other Saiyan into the wall. "Let me finish Kakarot. At some point, we simply grew strong enough where our bodies decided a tail wasn't needed anymore, or some magic was used if I'm remembering your situation correctly. However, when that Android used that machine to weaken us, we were in a state of powerlessness unlike any beforehand."

The Prince crossed his arms to block another strike from his opponent and stepped back to avoid the follow-up to the assault. "If I had to guess, we ended up weakening so much that our bodies decided to regrow our tails to make up for the loss in power."

"Really?" Goku questioned as he side-stepped a drop kick and retaliated with an elbow to Vegeta's side. "I'm not sure that makes any sense."

"Alright then, what's your _brilliant_ explanation for how we regrew our tails?"

Vegeta had him there, and all the earth-raised Saiyan could do was shrug as the two resumed their training.

Elsewhere, within a rather plain looking house, a certain Android sat with another Android while the husband to one of those Android's played with his daughter outside.

"Never really took you for the camping type, especially since all you wore was that lab coat the first time we met."

21, wearing a plain T-shirt with a pair of jeans to match, chuckled at 18's statement, a cup of coffee held in both hands. "Yeah, well, they insisted I come along to join them. Chichi wasn't going to take no for an answer now that I think about it, but it ended up being a lot of fun. You and Krillin should take your daughter out on a trip some time, especially since you have a brother who's a park ranger."

The blond android blew away a strand of hair that really wasn't out of place, refusing to maintain eye contact with her friend when she said her next said words. "As much as I love my brother, camping isn't something I want to get my family into, and there's the fact he's watching an area we wouldn't be allowed to stay in…"

"You wouldn't?" 21 asked, surprised at that. "Is it some kind of preservation area?"

"Not actually sure myself." 18 admitted while taking a sip of her drink. "He just told me a while back that no one else but the staff and their families are allowed at the area he's watching. Supposedly it will eventually just be his family watching the entire island, not really surprising since there isn't a single poacher who could get away if 17 is after them."

"Makes me want to see it even more." The curly-haired android drank from her own cup and decided to shift the conversation. "Anyway, how's Krillin adjusting to working as a police officer?"

18 actually smirked at the question. "Quite well, so much so that it makes me think he could have become an actor if he put his mind too it."

"Really?" 21 questioned, eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Yeah. He has to pretend to be like a regular human who is incapable of flight, unable to blow away mountains with pure energy, and weak enough where punching an entire building wouldn't reduce it to rubble. I know suppressing energy isn't anything knew, but I don't think anyone is as skilled at it as Krillin. And admittedly, his awkward personality makes it easier for him to blend in with people."

"Why'd he do it anyway?" the other android continued with her questions, realizing she didn't actually know the reason behind the decision.

At that though, the blond lost a little bit of the happiness in her eyes. "He said it was so he could finally provide for us on his own instead of living off of Bulma's and Roshi's generosity, and while I'm sure that's true, I think it's because he wants to give up martial arts."

21 spat out her drink at that, and unfortunately, 18 was on the receiving end of that impromptu shower. Hand now raised over her mouth with a horrified look to match, the brunette stammered out an apology as her friend slowly wiped away the liquid from her face.

"I'll be sure not to give you any kind of drink next time we decide to talk." With that, the woman stood up and made her way over towards the kitchen to grab herself a towel and wipe away the coffee. "Although, that was pretty much what my reaction was when Krillin told me what he was going to do."

"Okay then, but why do you think he's doing this to give up martial arts?" the hybrid tried to get back on track despite the fact her cheeks were dusted pink from embarrassment.

18 sighed as she placed the towel down, refusing to meet 21's eyes. "I think it's something he's been thinking about for years now, but the short story is that he doesn't think he's relevant anymore."

The only response the blond received from that was a slight narrowing of blue eyes, confusion evident in the gaze.

"Excluding Tien and Yamcha, he's the weakest one in the group and has been for a very long time. He told me the last opponent he was able to face off on his own was something called a Saibamen?"

21 shrugged, vaguely remembering the word appearing in the databanks, but it was listed underneath as low-priority information.

"After that," 18 continued once it became apparent neither of them really knew what that was, "he basically became a punching bag for anyone and everyone they faced off against. Only able to distract them at best. He was fine with that, told me it was something to be proud of in-fact, but after Cell gained his Perfect form, it finally clicked that facing off against these kind of opponents wasn't going to do any good."

"And I can only imagine how much that idea was reinforced when the likes of Majin Buu and myself came along." 21 realized with a downcast look.

"I never trained a day in my life, and I'm several times stronger then my husband." 18 allowed the moment to stretch on to give her friend time to process that fact. "There was someone out there capable of _making_ beings who could render a lifetime of work meaningless. Facts like that made Krillin question what he was doing with his life."

 _And I'm one of those beings._

It was almost heartbreaking to realize that the two of them might have contributed to Krillin, and maybe even some of the other humans in the group, that their time had passed as valid defenders. By no means were any of them weak, it was just that everyone else was that much stronger. Even Piccolo seemed to struggle to keep up with the likes of the Saiyans or Saiyan hybrids, and he had been one of the greatest threats on the planet at one point.

"Have you talked to him about it?"

18 shook her head. "How am I supposed to bring something like that up? Besides, what will I do if he tries to pretend everything's alright, force the answer out of him? I love the man dearly, but that doesn't mean I'll stand around pretending there isn't some merit to these thoughts."

"That's fair… I guess." 21 relented, knowing it wasn't her place to handle something like that. The conversation lulled for a bit as the two women struggled to think of something to change the subject properly, and thankfully, 18 came up with just the thing.

"You know, you never did explain why you decided to stay at Goku's place. Could've gone anywhere you wanted, stayed with whoever you wanted, and you pick the one person who lives out in the wilderness. Why?"

"Because…" the woman trailed off as she found herself struggling to remember the exact reason for doing so and ended up thinking of two different answers. She decided to use both of them. "He lived somewhere quiet. After everything, my head wouldn't stop thinking up things that scared me to no end, and I just needed to stay somewhere that was far removed from just about everything to help clear my mind."

"So, pretty much a vacation." 18 summarized, gesturing for her to continue.

"Pretty much, but more than that, he's someone I can trust to realize when something's off." 21 saw the slight confusion on her friend's face and decided to elaborate. "Despite the fact we literally killed my evil half, I'm still worried the hunger is going to come back without me realizing it, and I think Goku would notice it before anyone else could."

"…oh…" because what else could the blond android say to that? 21 was simultaneously taking a vacation and a psych evaluation at the same time. "Goku doesn't know about that second part, does he?"

21 shook her head in response.

18 set her now empty cup down with a frown and suddenly let out a snort. "I really need to work on my small talk, I just ended up changing one gloomy topic to another."

"Yeah…" 21 agreed, smiling as the mood became far less solemn with such a simple sentence.

"Got any ideas?" 18 asked, looking for some advice.

The brown-haired woman raised a brow at the question. "You're asking me for small talk advice? I think you'd have better luck asking Chichi, she's an expert on things like this."

The Android groaned as she lowered her head into her hands. "Great…"

* * *

 _Well this is an… odd sight._ 21 raised an eyebrow as she floated down onto the grassy backyard of Hercule's house. Although, house wasn't the right word to describe the building before her, belonging to the World's champion and savior, even though that last title was a semi-lie. But huge mansion aside, it was the fact Gohan was lying prone on the ground with Piccolo, who's embarrassment was showing by the twitch of his brow, holding onto the young man's tail, tugging on it with a good amount of force.

"Uh… what's going on here?" the Android asked as she approached the duo, watching as Gohan's body seemed to tense up, even more than it already was that is, while the green man himself merely turned to look at her with the perpetual scowl never leaving his face.

"We're trying to get rid of this tail." Piccolo answered quickly, giving a light grunt as he applied even more force into his efforts. "Unfortunately, it's proving to be much harder to do than when he was a kid."

"You're telling me!" Gohan attempted to yell, his voice slightly muffled as it was partially pressed into the ground when the Namekian planted a boot on his back to aid in the tail removal process. "He's been trying this for thirty minutes!"

A low growl emitted from Piccolo as he tightened his grip, getting a pained groan in response.

"I would appreciate it if you didn't hurt my fiancée." Another voice scolded, turning out to be Videl as she walked out onto the yard with a look fierce enough to make even Piccolo turn away and loosen his hold just enough to get a relieved sigh from the half-Saiyan. "Thank you."

"Why not just cut it off?" 21 suggested, her face conveying just how stupid she thought this idea was.

"Because I thought this would be quicker!" The Namekian explained, another tug on the tail proved just how wrong he had been. "Not to mention the fact I wouldn't be able to cut it all the way off, and I doubt Gohan would be fine with walking around with a stump of a tail."

"If we could avoid that, that would be great." Gohan drawled as his mentor, who had finally given up trying to remove the pesky extra appendage, stepped back and crossed his arms. The young man stood up while letting out another groan, the entirety of his body sore from the endeavor despite not actually doing anything.

Videl let out a chuckle as she approached the man she loves, placing both of her hands on either side of his face. "You know you don't have to get rid of it if you don't to."

"I know," Gohan reached up and covered his fiancée's hands with his own, giving the woman a tender smile that made 21 look away with a slight blush, "but I want to."

The Android was desperately trying not to make a noise at how touching this scene was.

Piccolo was the one who decided to interrupt the moment by letting out a cough that startled the happy couple away from each other. "Regardless on if you want to get rid of it or not, neither of us can do that by brute force without risking tearing out your entire spine in the process."

The half-Saiyan paled at the thought, and Videl was suddenly holding his hand with a vice-like grip.

"So, we'll have to find someway to cut it off cleanly like 21 suggested, but I'm not sure how to do that just yet."

"We could ask Bulma." 21 contributed, catching every one's attention. "It shouldn't be too difficult for her to modify a small laser to do something as simple as cut off a tail, plus, it should cauterize the wound and prevent it from growing back again."

Piccolo looked the most doubtful out of all of them. "It can't be as simple as that."

He had been wrong, oh so very wrong.

"Oh yeah, shouldn't be too difficult for me to do."

The Namekian let out a quiet grunt when the Android who suggested the idea gave him a teasing smirk, responding by turning around to look at nothing in particular.

Gohan gave the blue-haired scientist a look of both relief and gratitude. "Thanks Bulma, this means a lot to me."

"Ah don't worry about it," she waved off his gratitude with a smile, "it's the least I can do to help you out. But you'll have to give me a day or two to get the equipment ready." The woman turned around to begin typing away on her computer, possibly looking up what she would need for the procedure. "I'll give you a call once its complete."

Bulma then glanced over at Vegeta, the Prince was casually leaning against the wall off in the distance with a frown, not like that was anything new, talking with Goku about something. "Hey Vegeta, want to get your tail removed too?"

"Like hell I do!" He shouted, amazing a few of the people in the room with how quick his full attention went from one person to another.

"Don't you yell at me! It was an honest question!"

Most of the occupants in the room collectively rolled their eyes at the familiar scene before them, with Trunks letting out a small groan as he covered his face with both hands.

"Well, if that's everything, then we should probably head home." Gohan suddenly said, his tone conveying the trepidation just about everyone was feeling right now.

"You do have that paper to work on…" Videl added, grabbing hold of the young man's hand before the two of them left using the fastest walk 21 had ever seen.

Piccolo merely let out one more grunt as he left the area as well.

The Android would have prepared to leave as well, but a slight nudge from Goku brought her attention to him, where she saw the Saiyan with two fingers placed on his forehead, giving her a look she recognized as an invitation. Nodding in silent agreement, the woman placed her arm on his, and the scene changed from a yelling couple to the peaceful view of the Son family household.

"Well that became far more dramatic than I was expecting." 21 let out a breath as the tension left her body. "Is that normal for them?"

Goku surprised her by actually nodding. "Oh yeah, but they usually make-out and get over it pretty quickly."

The Android let out a cough to hide the fact she was about to laugh and gave the Saiyan an amused look. "I think you mean make- _up,_ Goku."

He scratched his head at that. "Oh yeah…"

* * *

It was in the middle of the night on the same day that 21 found herself waking up for no particular reason that she could think of. Rubbing her eyes and groggily looking towards the digital alarm clock on her nightstand, the woman groaned and buried her head when she saw it was only one in the morning.

 _Might as well get something to drink,_ she reasoned, wishing to quench the dryness in her mouth before trying to slip back into dreamworld. Slipping off the covers and standing up while letting out a big yawn, 21 left her room and began dragging her feet towards the kitchen.

Attempting to rub the sleep out of eyes, the android found herself squinting when a bright light from around the corner suddenly registered in her brain. _Strange,_ 21 thought as her brain slowly came to life with the additional stimulus, _I don't remember_ _anyone leaving a light on when we went to bed._

Her question was answered immediately when she saw Chichi sitting at the kitchen table with a stack of papers around her and an empty cup just within reach. The mother was tired, it was easy to see with the way her eyes were drooping, but she continued to look over the piece of paper in-front of her with great focus.

"Chichi?" 21 quietly asked, trying to get her attention without startling the woman.

It must have worked since she immediately looked up and gave her an exhausted smile. "Hey. What are you doing up so late?"

"Getting a glass of water," the Android explained, stepping around the table to do as such, turning back with clear confusion on her face as she glanced over towards all the papers. "What about you?"

"What aren't I doing," Chichi groaned, allowing her head to fall onto her arms. "Looking over Goten's books so I can help him study next week, making lists for all the supplies we're going to need the next time we head to the market, looking over the various bills-"

"Bills?" 21 asked, frowning at the way the housewife immediately tensed up. "I… didn't think you had any."

Chichi didn't respond right away. The Android was about to ask her what was going on, but the woman responded before that happened by sliding over some of the papers. 21 picked them up with some trepidation and began looking over the numbers with ever-raising eyebrows until she finally lowered the paper and expressed her shock with a single word.

"How?" How could they be this high? How could there be this many. How could you afford it?

Chichi heard all those unasked questions and let out a hollow chuckle in response. "It's the price I pay for marrying a Saiyan." She didn't sound bitter, which 21 took as a good sign, but her tone did hold hints of resignation. "And for raising two kids without either parent having a steady job."

"No kidding." 21 said as she looked over the information with a shake of her head. "I'm sorry if I sound pushy, but how have you been able to afford all of this?"

"I'm a Princess." The woman shrugged, and that did answer the question, but she continued. "The amount of money I have access to is nothing to laugh at, but I didn't want to live off of my father's wealth to pay for my own children."

"I wouldn't either, but it's not like you're in a favorable situation… and I'm not helping either." She realized with a deep frown, only for her eyes to go wide when she saw the look Chichi gave her.

"Don't do that to yourself, I wouldn't have allowed you to stay here with us if money was all I cared about." The woman reached out and took back the paper 21 had been holding, placing it on top of another stack while reaching out to open a text book. She paused when the Android took a seat across from her and took the school book for herself. "What are you doing?"

21 smiled. "Helping. If you won't let me feel bad about this, then the least I can do is help you out so not everything is on your shoulders to bear. What page does his lesson start at?"

Chichi visibly sagged with relief at the offer. "There's a bookmark on the top. That chapter and the next one are what he needs to review tomorrow." Then, whispered so quietly that the Android almost thought she imagined it, Chichi expressed her gratitude in just a few words.

"Thank you."

"Your welcome." And then the book was open, and the two spent the next hour in comfortable silence before the Android forced her friend to get some sleep, claiming everything else could wait until she was well rested. The housewife reluctantly agreed, disappearing into her shared room with a yawn while leaving 21 alone to clean up the small mess.

She didn't mind doing so, and the following weeks were spent adjusting to the new system the two women agreed to try out, making little changes along the way until a certain problem was pointed out by 21 during one of their nightly sessions.

"Goten doesn't enjoy studying." The Android muttered, her head in her hands as Chichi looked up from her work with sympathy shining through tired eyes. It had been a problem when the housewife tried to teach the youngest son and it seemed to be plaguing her houseguest as well.

"Yes, it seems like he takes after his father in more than just looks." Chichi agreed, reaching over to nudge the cup of coffee closer towards 21, silently encouraging her that she needed the extra energy. "I'll probably change his hairstyle this year when I switch out his clothes…"

The brown liquid needed more sugar in it to be good in 21's opinion, but the bitter taste did help jolt her into a more awake state. It did cause her to miss the last bit of the Princess's sentence. "Right… about that…"

It was the way Chichi's eyes zeroed in on her, with far too much intensity for a regular human to have, that made the Android inwardly shudder as she powered on to finish her thought.

"I think we need to use Goku as incentive to get Goten to study more." When the intensity from the gaze faded to allow a bit of confusion in, 21 took that as a sign to continue. "He's part Saiyan, and as much as you don't want to admit it, he wants to train and fight alongside and against his father. So, maybe, we could allow Goten to do that after every study session?"

21 finished off with little more than a squeak as Chichi's gaze regained its intensity and somehow grew several levels in the process. The Android finally, _finally_ , realized exactly why the men in the house tried their absolute best to avoid incurring the woman's wrath in anyway, shape, or form. Between having to be on the receiving end of that look or face off against her evil half without anyone assisting her like last time… well, 21 was more than willing to go another round against that monster.

But before 21 could head out to start gathering the dragon balls to do just that, Chichi bowed her head and visibly deflated. "As much as I hate to admit it, I know you're right."

A blink, then two, followed by a mouth opening as if to say something only to close immediately was all the former scientist could do as the woman before her actually agreed with the idea. No wait. All Chichi said was that she was right. "So…?" The question 21 was really asking was clear to hear. Even so, the housewife delayed the answer in favor of leaning her head all the way back on the chair so she was looking up towards the ceiling.

"You know how I feel about stuff like this…" Chichi started with a sigh that conveyed exhaustion that could only come from talking about the same thing over and over again. "I didn't want my kids to live a life where they would get into dangerous situations like their father did or worse, but despite my best efforts, they always ended up right in the middle of the fight."

"Gohan was kidnapped by his uncle, then kidnapped by his father's worst enemy and forced to train for an entire year, faced off against opponents and witnessed horrors no kid should ever have to go through. Once all that was over with, he decides to go to space to bring his comrades back to life, ends up facing against a galactic tyrant in the process, and only survives because his father discovers a power that was supposed to be from the stuff of legends. All that before he was even a teenager and he still managed to complete all his school work and find a wonderful woman to settle down with."

"He is quite the overachiever." 21 added, liking where this train of thought was going.

Chichi hummed in agreement while drumming her fingers along the table, her eyes partly scrunched up in thought. Finally, she nodded. "Fine – however…" she held up a hand, "we need to set some rules to make sure this doesn't get out of hand."

Frankly, 21 was just happy she agreed, and nodded with a big grin that made the other woman chuckle lightly.

"Alright," Chichi continued once her laughter was under complete control, "first thing's first, he can't train every day, I'm not going to let it become an obsession like it did for Goku. Second, you need to keep an eye on them when it's happening. Finally, and this one is the most important to me, if Goten says he's done then he's done. Ok?"

Those were fairly simple terms when all things were considered, and 21 would have to be a fool not to accept them. "Yeah!" the woman realized how loud her voice was and continued much more subdued. "Yeah, that's fine."

"Good, you can tell them about it tomorrow if you want." It was like she had swallowed a bitter pill after saying those words – understandable considering the subject of their conversation.

"Don't worry, I know this will work out for the better." 21 reassured, looking just as determined as Goku did when he was about to go into battle, so much so that Chichi actually saw a transparent image of her husband appear beside the Android with the exact same look for a brief moment, but that faded away as soon as she blinked, leaving her puzzled as to what just happened.

"Right, well, I think we should call it a night, there's a lot of new stuff to deal with tomorrow."

21 glanced over at the clock and briefly wondered how time had flew by so fast, before closing Goten's school book to help the other woman clean up the area. She did so with that smile still present on her face, excited to see what Goku's and Goten's reactions would be to the recent development.

* * *

Less than a week. That was how long it took for the results to start speaking for themselves. 21 felt unusually smug about it, but she wasn't going to say anything since the reason why Chichi never tried something like this was far from being unreasonable. However, the woman had always looked at things from a completely human perspective, never understanding that fighting was basically in her children's DNA thanks to Goku.

It was only because of her half of the genetics that the two of them were able to even focus on things that didn't include punching anything that looked strong.

Gohan pretty much contained the best aspects of both races with the human half tempering his Saiyan battle lust while the Saiyan bits strengthened his body far more than that of a regular humans. 21 suspected that perfect blend was the reason he had far more potential than the likes of Goku and Vegeta, and she was secretly glad the young man was starting to find a balance between his scholarly endeavors and training.

Maybe Goten didn't have that same potential, but that didn't mean he couldn't achieve greatness on his own, he already proved that in the camping spar when he not only performed a move from his fusion but ascended into Super Saiyan 2 as well.

Speaking of spars, the Android refocused on the battle overhead just in time to see the youngest of the Son family crash into the rocky ground a fair distance away from her, having no time to even ponder if he was alright before the signature blue beam the entire household shared erupted from the crater, surging towards Goku, his hair spiked upwards with a familiar golden glow, who fired off his own Kamehameha to counter.

21 held a hand over her eyes to block out the light that came from the two beams clashing. _I hate to think it, but this is probably the most time they've ever spent together since the trip._ The thought did make her frown slightly, her long hair blowing back wildly as the beam struggle ended with a large explosion.

Much like how Chichi had forced them to go on a camping trip – that everyone would have gone on regardless if the Princess had given them a choice or not – to help her sons bond with their father, 21 had suggested this idea not only so Goten would be more motivated in his studies, but to give a way to spend quality time with a man who doesn't know much else besides fighting. He had a lot of knowledge on the outdoors, more so than anyone else 21 suspected, but Goten probably wouldn't need something like that if he moved into the city like his older brother.

It was working too, and she couldn't help but think that was the happiest and saddest part about all of this.

Goten, clad in golden energy, flew out of the crater and crashed into Goku with a headbutt so powerful even 21 winced in sympathy even as the older man hunched over with spit flying out of his mouth. The young hybrid then unleashed a barrage of punches, finishing the assault with a straight punch to Goku's cheek, sending him flying away.

The two of them continued to clash over and over with neither seeming to have the upper hand, but the Android could tell the father was holding back against his son, and he didn't seem to care about that one bit if the focused grin on his face was any indicator. They eventually ascended into the Super Saiyan 2 form, and despite knowing she should tell them to take it easy and power down into the regular form, 21 also knew it would be better to let them continue without interruption.

 _You've all done so much for me,_ another clash between the two created winds so powerful that the woman had to hold some of the wavy locks back so they didn't blow into her face, a look of admiration directed solely to Goku as she continued her train of thought, _and all I've done is take from you without providing anything in return._

21 clenched her free hand as she brought it up over her heart. _So, if you won't let me repay you with money, then let me repay you by brining you all closer together. When I had nothing left you invited me into your family without a second thought, I can't just stand-by and watch all of you struggle to find someway to connect with one another._

Goku appeared behind his son using the Instant Transmission, bashing Goten away with a strong arm that moved so fast it actually broke the sound barrier in the process. His eyes turned ever-so-slightly so he was giving the Android a sideways glance, and the way his lips quirked upward in an appreciative smile, making 21 think he knew what she was trying to do for them, made the woman's heart soar with joy. The smile faded back into that confident smirk she was familiar with just as the man raised his arms in time to block a powerful kick from his son.

Moments like these made her realize just how much she cared about them: seeing the stress lines fade from Chichi's face over the past couple weeks, holding back a laugh at the way Goten flew up into the sky when she brought up how he would get to train with his father if he studied hard enough, the way Gohan and Videl welcomed her with open arms whenever she visited them with Chichi, and especially when she and Goku would lean on each other's backs after an especially tough spar and laugh at how great it felt to fight someone for fun.

She sucked in a deep breath and called out towards the two of them, it was almost dinner time, and they had been fighting for over an hour at this point. Chichi wouldn't be happy if they were late, and they wouldn't be happy if a meal was missed. The two men, panting from exhaustion, powered down and floated back to her, their grins so wide and contagious 21 found herself joining them as she walked over towards the duo, and she almost stopped when something amazing occurred.

Goku, in a display of fatherly love that she hadn't seen from him before, affectionately ruffled Goten's hair before moving that hand onto the younger son's shoulder, giving it a slight squeeze while looking down with a look that was positively bursting with pride.

Instead of smiling or laughing like he normally would have, Goten actually looked back up with slight shock that morphed into an expression of joy so pure 21 had to bring a hand up to cover her mouth to hold back the happy cry she would have let out while moisture gathered in the corner of her eyes. She managed to get herself under control by the time they turned back to her, partially because she had turned away so her back was facing them, and then gestured for the two males to place their hands on her shoulder or arm while raising two fingers to her forehead.

When they did so, 21 smiled, not because of the contact, but because they were already talking and praising one another like never before. Helping them was worth it. This moment proved that beyond a shadow of a doubt.

The Android slowly breathed out, and the three of them vanished from the area.

* * *

 **I would like to once again thank everyone who's reviewed, favorited, followed, or even viewed this story. I can't promise I'll be faster with the uploads, but I can promise that it will come eventually. Even if it takes years, which I hope it doesn't, I will finish this story.**

 **In the mean time, have a wonderful day!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Not much to say about this one. Would have had it out yesterday, but I wanted to spend another day looking it over.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter: 5

The area around Mount Paozu was always in a state of tranquil calm. As if nature itself demanded as such in these simple lands.

It was in this quiet land that two figures practiced their martial arts together, the sounds of their blows being blocked or deflected along with the occasional grunt breaking through the sounds of nature. No Ki was involved, as they were trying to keep the collateral damage to a minimum, this was purely a test of skill rather than might, and after living with the Son family for roughly a year now, 21 was proving that she was a fast learner.

Goku groaned as his training partner dug her elbow into his side, having broken through his guard with a clever feint. He made sure to punish the hit by locking her arm in place with his own before retaliating with a palm strike to her midsection.

The Android gasped in response, back-flipping away to avoid taking any more damage, having to immediately raise her forearm to block a kick aimed for her head.

It had been about a month ago when 21 suggested the idea of fighting without the use of Ki to Goku, much to the Saiyan's initial confusion, and it only took a half-hour for him to grow fond of the idea. Now they fought with this restriction as often as they don't, greatly enjoying the mix-up this provided. Goku even started doing so with Goten to focus more on teaching the young hybrid proper technique, much to the child's joy.

21 jumped up to dodge a low kick only to realize her mistake a moment later when Goku managed to pivot around with the very leg he kicked with and extend his other leg in order to land a strike on her side. That one earned a wince from the woman, who refused to drop her stance once she landed, knowing it would heal in just a minute.

It was funny how fighting could bring the whole family closer. Goten had mentioned the new method of training to Gohan when they had been visiting the other week, and it quickly caught the interest of the young man, and Videl, with the two of them deciding to try it out in their free time, and from what Chichi had mentioned, they had grown quite fond of it.

"You know, I've been thinking." Goku started as he raised his knee to block a low punch. "We should hold a mock-tournament with everyone."

"A tournament?" 21 questioned as she reached out to twist the Saiyan's leg and flip him over her shoulder, following it up with a drop kick that was barely avoided by the man rolling to the side. "Why's that?"

The smile that appeared on the man's face told the Android everything she needed, and she was unsurprised when he gave his answer. "Because it would be a blast to fight against everyone like we used too years ago!" Goku then let out a yell as his friend landed a solid blow to his cheek, having used his excitement against the man to expose an opening.

21 smirked in response to the mock glare he aimed at her, continuing the conversation as they reengaged. "Have you talked with anyone else about this? We're going to need to figure out where to hold something like that."

"Not yet, and I was thinking of asking Hercule to let us use his place for it." Goku caught the Android's fist in his palm, and instead of continuing to attack, he relaxed his stance and dropped the hand, letting 21 know he wanted to be done for now. "We could always do it at Bulma's, she has plenty of open space in Capsule Corp."

"Yeah…" she trailed off as Goku's swaying tail caught her attention, and the woman couldn't help herself but ask about it. "How's the tail training going? You haven't been going to as many training sessions with Vegeta lately."

"Great, actually!" the man said with a big grin, demonstrating his control by having the appendage wrap around his waist like a traditional Saiyan. "I don't freeze up when it's grabbed anymore to!"

21 acknowledged the excitement with a grin as the two of them used Instant Transmission to appear outside of the Son household. "That's good to hear. You definitely seem to be more… energetic ever since that thing grew back."

Goku laughed at that. "Yeah, but I can't help it. My body just feels more powerful now than before. Chichi doesn't like it though, she say's it keeps tickling her at night." He said, earning a snort from his companion. "I thought it was funny too, but hopefully it won't bug her anymore now that I've got it under control."

"She'll be grateful, I'm sure." The woman replied, remembering the many times she'd walked out into the main room only to see the man sleeping on the couch. Sure, she felt bad for him, but 21 understood why Chichi did that.

The Android had no doubt she would kick someone out of the room if they were interrupting her beauty sleep.

Their conversation was then cut short as the door to the house crashed open, followed immediately by an orange blur flying out and crashing into Goku's chest.

"Hi dad!" Goten greeted with eyes shining with excitement. The young hybrid then grabbed onto his father's sleeve before trying to fly off with the man in tow. "Come on, let's go!"

Goku's feet dragged across the ground from the effort, and 21 covered her mouth to hold back the laugh as the man blinked owlishly at his son.

She knew Goku probably didn't know what Goten was talking about, the man had a habit of mixing up dates, and decided to remind him. "You promised him to go train with Gohan today."

Instantly, his eyes opened wide as the memory came back to him, and Goku offered 21 a grateful smile before wrapping an arm around his youngest son, taking off into the sky with great speeds a moment later.

The Android could hear Goten's echoing cheers long after they were out of view.

"Maybe I should get him a small notebook." 21 mused with a smile, knowing he wouldn't use it. The woman then raised a hand and placed it over her racing heart, trying to quell the excitement that didn't belong to her.

21 still cherished the permanent link she had with Goku, but there were times – like right now for example – where being able to share emotions with a full bloodied Saiyan were distracting. Still, there wasn't any real way to get rid of it, save using the Dragon Balls, and the Android wasn't willing to waste a wish on something that really didn't bother her in the long run.

Breathing in one last time to get rid of the lingering adrenaline, 21 turned on the spot to make her way through the still open door, frowning slightly when she saw Chichi, sitting at the kitchen table with an arm covering her eyes. There were papers scattered around her, probably having been scattered when Goten flew out the house, and it concerned 21 that the woman wasn't bothering to pick them up.

"Chichi?" she asked, stepping next to her friend while placing a hand on the mother's shoulder. The worry morphed into confusion when the arm was moved to reveal a content smile as the woman stared up at 21, gesturing towards a single sheet with several red marks on it. Raising a brow, but not saying anything, the Android reached out to grab the paper to look it over, both eyes were wide once she finished looking it over.

"Hard to believe, isn't it?" Chichi asked, taking back the graded homework, looking proud as the two of them gazed at the solid B circled at the top. "I knew Goten was smarter than he looked, but it was so difficult to get him to focus." A sigh escaped the Princess as she leaned back once more, appearing as if the weight of the world was being removed from her shoulders.

A little dramatic in 21's eyes, but considering the task, she couldn't blame the woman for being relieved.

"He's definitely got more of his father in him than Gohan." The brunette agreed, referring more to the child's personality rather than his appearance. Even if it was a little concerning how much effort Chichi had placed to make a near carbon-copy of her husband. Was that something she should have been worried about?

 _Questions for later,_ 21 finally decided as she began to clean up the mess around the area, earning a quiet 'Thank you' from the mother.

It was funny how simple gratitude such as that always warmed the Android's heart.

"Oh, by the way." 21 started, figuring it would be a good idea to let the woman know what Goku was planning, and it took less than five minutes for the pleasant atmosphere to shift into one filled with exasperation as Chichi held her face in both hands, letting out an audible groan as well.

"Of _course_ he would come up with something like that." Chichi lamented, more than aware how silly she must have looked reacting like she was, but really, who could blame her?

"Yeah…" the brunette awkwardly agreed, hesitant to mention that the man might try to host the event by their place. 21 doubted that the woman would take kindly to that. "But you know, because it's a martial arts only tournament, you could participate as well."

Chichi seemed to freeze at that, whirling around to look at her so fast that 21 worried she gave herself whiplash. "I can?"

The gleam in the housewife's eyes unnerved the Android greatly, and she nervously replied with a simple, "Yes."

"I... I haven't been in a tournament in years, it's how I…" Chichi trailed off as she leaned back against her chair and looked up at the ceiling, lost in a memory that barely lasted a few seconds. "I'll think about it, but knowing Goku and who he's going to invite, I doubt this will be something to join in."

21 tilted her head to the side in curiosity. "Why's that?"

The woman smiled. "I would lose during the first match, no matter who I went up against. Fighting was something I've been against for quite some time now, sure I trained Goten for a bit when he was growing up, but that hardly compares to the people who spent almost their whole lives training to some compacity. Goodness, the only reason I've been in a tournament was so I could meet Goku, and after seeing what happened to him while facing Piccolo, then having Gohan soon after, the passion kind of… faded away."

21 chewed her lower lip while looking off to the side, a question burned in the back of her head, and deciding to throw caution to the wind, asked something that she had been thinking about for a while. "Do you regret marrying him? I know you've already said stuff about it, but you always talk as if… as if…" and she couldn't quite figure out how to finish the question.

Chichi, however, could. "-as if it's the greatest regret in my life?"

The shocked look on the Android's face said it all.

"Because you wouldn't be wrong if you did ask that," the woman continued, getting up to get herself something to drink, "and I'd be lying if I also didn't say it was one of the best decisions in my life."

"What do you mean." 21 asked as she took a seat in the very chair Chichi had been occupying.

"…" the Princess stared at her drink for a good minute before moving over to take the chair opposite of 21, keeping her gaze on the liquid. "I was a child when Goku first showed up in my life, and because of that, my head was filled with fantasies of a strong boy who would come and whisk me away on a grand adventure, saving me from any monsters I was too scared to fight. When we first met, he was the strongest person I ever met, around my age, and cute. It took one day for me to develop a crush on him and get him to promise me that we would get married someday."

"I spent most of my life after that obsessing over the day when we would finally be together, and after several years, Goku finally proposed to me, but only after I reminded him of the promise."

"He didn't remember?!" 21 asked, shocked that anyone could forget something like that.

"Well of course he didn't." Chichi stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Goku didn't even know what marriage was when we first met, or even when I reminded him years later, the only thing he ever thought about was training for the most part, it's who he is. Truth be told, I don't think Goku actually loves me the way a husband loves a wife."

The Android opened her mouth to say something about that, but her friend beat her to the point by holding up a hand. "I'm not saying he doesn't care, but I've just noticed over the years that he's never looked at me any differently than he would any of his other friends. That, and he's never actually said 'I love you' to me once during all our years of marriage."

"Then why are you still with him?" 21 heard herself ask the question, and immediately placed a hand over her mouth in shock, because _why would I ask something like that?!_

But the woman before her smiled once more to let 21 know it was alright. "Because I _did_ end up falling in love with him after a while. And then we had Gohan, and later Goten. Those two made it impossible for me to regret what happened. So, even if he never feels the same way about me, I can take comfort knowing he will always care about us like no one else could."

"I'm…glad." 21 muttered, her head bowed as she gazed at the floor trying to figure out what to say to any of that. It wasn't exactly a one-sided relationship, Goku obviously cared very much for the woman and his two children but knowing that the person you were married too didn't love you back, or at all in Chichi's case, must have been a terrible feeling to realize.

 _And yet…_

The Android couldn't help but feel a sense of admiration. There weren't many people who could do what she has done and raise a family so well, and that admiration molded itself into an idea. "I've got it!"

Chichi jumped from the sudden shout, turning to 21 with slight alarm. "What?"

"The tournament, I'll train you so you can participate in it!"

"Oh," the Mother calmed herself down and tried to wave off the offer, "that's fine, you really don't need to-"

21 was having none of it. "Yes I do. You're a fighter even if you don't want to admit, so I'll train you to help get you back into fighting shape. Goku probably will have the tournament start in a week or two, probably because no one would be willing to drop everything to start immediately, which will give us more than enough time for you to relearn whatever you forgot!"

Chichi mulled over the idea in her head for quite some time after that declaration, unable to deny the appeal it held over her. "Alright," she finally relented, amused when her friend did a little cheer, "I suppose you want us to start right away?"

"Of course, we don't have a minute to waste!"

"I figured." She sighed, but the smile betrayed her excitement. "Let me change and we can get started."

The Android nodded vigorously, waiting till the woman disappeared around the hallway before letting out a quiet cheer.

 _This tournament is going to be great!_

* * *

"So, you want to host a tournament in the next ten days?"

"Yep."

"And want to make it a test of skill rather than power?"

"Yeah huh."

"On top of that, you plan on inviting the entire group as well?"

"That's right!"

Tien let out a huff as he brought up a cup of tea to drink, dragging out the sip to give himself plenty of time to think. "I'm not going to lie; I'm surprised you decided to do something like this." The Monk admitted, giving Goku a suspicious look. "Or was it someone else who came up with it?"

"Come on, Tien, give me some credit." The Saiyan whined, sitting casually in the seat across from his long friend. "It's just been so long since any of us have fought against each other for fun."

"That's because the rest of us haven't been able to pose a serious challenge to you for a very long time." Tien pointed out plainly, reaching out to open the lid of the teapot, dropping in a few more leaves. He wanted this blend to be a bit more potent. "But if you're serious about keeping every one's power restrained, then you can count me in." The monk smiled to himself, thinking how wonderful it would be if he managed to beat Vegeta in this.

That mental image was more than enough to get him excited.

"Great! We'll be doing it by my house." Goku stood up from his seat and prepared to teleport out of the house.

"Sounds good, Goku." Tien waved, and then the scenery changed from a relatively simple living room to a bustling city.

Looking around, the Saiyan saw several people giving him startled looks, one woman was still in the process of screaming, but there was one in particular that stood out to him.

"Hey Yamcha!"

The former bandit spat out the coffee he had been drinking, showering the woman across from him in the process.

"G-G-Goku?" Yamcha asked in-between coughs, looking over at the man in question while the woman scoffed at the mess and left without another word. "No, Sarah wait!" He called out, only for his words to go unheard as his date continued to walk away.

"Did… I interrupt something?" Goku asked as he approached the baseball player while scratching the back of his head.

The response he received was a very disgruntled groan.

Meanwhile, nearly half-way across the entire planet, 21 herself appeared at the top of a grassy hill that overlooked a rather peaceful meadow. A sudden breeze blew her hair around a bit, and she was glad that it had been placed into a ponytail in minimize the mess.

21 breathed in the fresh air with a smile before making her way over towards the person she came to see.

Floating just at the top of the hill was the familiar turban and cape of Piccolo, appearing to be mediating for all intents and purposes, but the Android could tell by the way he his shoulders rose that he was aware of her presence.

"Is there any particular reason you came out here to see me?" the Namekian asked before she even had a chance to open her mouth, maintaining his posture as though he were ready to continue meditating at a moment's notice.

"Goku's hosting a tournament." 21 answered without missing a beat, a little let down he didn't appear to be interested in small talk. "And he really wants you to be there too."

Piccolo huffed. "And why would I join in?"

"Because it would be fun?" She offered, stepping closer and around so she was looking at his side rather than his back. Seeing the slightest hint of curiosity in the man's eyes, 21 continued. "It's a 'no power' tournament, so we're only fighting with our martial arts instead of with any abilities."

The Namekian's scowl deepened as he processed that information. "So, we'll all be fighting on equal footing is what you're saying?"

21 brought a hand up to run it through her hair, offering him a shrug in response. "Kinda, anyone who's been practicing will have a better chance, but that's the idea behind this."

Piccolo appeared intrigued by this point, at least, 21 thought so with the way he wasn't dismissing the idea immediately. The sharp nod he gave to himself was very encouraging, especially the answer he gave right after.

"Alright, I'll join in. It should be a good way to mix things up at the very least."

"Great!" 21 nearly cheered, clapping her hands together while giving the green man a pleased look. "We will be doing it in about ten days from now, near Goku's. See you there." She waved, disappearing right after, leaving Piccolo alone once more.

The Namekian let out a breath as he stopped channeling energy into maintaining flight, allowing his legs to touch ground for the first time in hours.

"Guess I should start practicing." He said, tossing aside his extra clothes before using the Multi-Form technique to make a perfect replica, it was going to take a bit for him to get used to fighting without any Ki.

-0-

Three days before the tournament was to be held saw both Gohan and Goku walking around the forest near the latter's house, trying to find a good area to hold the event. They had been searching for an hour by this point and failed to find anything that met their expectations. They were half-tempted to just clear out their own space to simplify things.

"We could always just make a dirt ring next to the house." Gohan eventually suggested as they finished examining another potential spot. "Plenty of space all around there to do that, and mom probably wouldn't mind since we can't cause too much trouble by fighting without power."

"I know," Goku sighed, disappointed that they just might have to do something like that, "but I wanted this to be different, you know?"

"Yeah…" the young man agreed, because he was also looking forward to doing this as well. The idea of doing it near his old home felt… boring, in a way. "I mean, we still have a couple days anyway. That should give us plenty of time to find _somewhere_ interesting."

The Saiyan looked at his son with a smile. "Definitely!" He agreed, pushing a few branches out of his face, only to stop after spotting something ahead of them.

"Dad?" Gohan questioned, stepping up so he was beside his father, allowing him to see what had caught the older man's attention.

"I think we just found what we were looking for."

And Gohan would agree as the two found themselves at the edge of a decent-sized clearing, with a river flowing through the middle of it. Looking off to one side, Goku found himself staring at a mountain with a waterfall feeding a small lake that acted as the river's source.

"In-fact," the man continued, his face stretching with an excited grin, "I think I've got an idea."

-0-

"This bracket is going to be a little uneven." 21 commented as she and Chichi stared at a sheet of paper with the names of everyone participating in Goku's tournament.

The Princess, with bandages covering her wrists, chewed on her pencil while tapping a finger against the table. 21 was right in that regard, with eleven people joining in, the pairings would be all over the place. One person was going to skip ahead to the finals without having to fight anyone, but with the way things were, someone was going to have to do an extra battle before going into the semi-finals.

She sighed, it wasn't perfect, or even preferred, but they were going to have to roll with it. "I know, but it's the best we can do given the numbers. If we had an even eight or sixteen this would be perfect."

"Maybe next time." The Android muttered, stretching her arms above her head until a satisfying 'pop' could be heard. After letting out a quiet moan in delight, 21 looked over at her friend and saw the woman staring at her with a raised brow. "What?"

"'Next time'?" Chichi asked. "You think we're going to be doing something like this again?"

That was a good point, considering this was something neither of them knew if it would turn out well or if everyone would enjoy it. "I guess there's a chance we won't. Who knows, maybe we'll have so much fun it becomes a yearly thing."

Letting out a quick shrug at that, Chichi looked at her with a little more life in those eyes than 21 was used to seeing. "You know, I actually hope we do. Training is a lot more enjoyable than I remember it being." The Housewife raised an arm and rubbed her wrist with a slight grimace. "Just as painful though."

"You're doing great though!" 21 complimented.

"Still, I probably won't get past the first round." Chichi reasoned, not with how out of practice she was. Not to mention, some of them were masters of their craft. "I might just take up training again when this is all over, pain aside, it's been a long time since I felt as energetic for something besides my family."

"Goku will love that."

Chichi laughed, resting her hands on her lap. "I'm sure. With anyone else, I'd be worried they'd hold this against me for the rest of my life."

"Oh, come on. No one… would do that." 21 looked anywhere but the woman before her to hide what was a blatant lie.

The look she received told 21 that even a blind man would have seen through her.

"…want to get dinner started?" the Android offered.

"Sure." Chichi rolled her eyes, a fond smile stretching across her face as the two of them set the notes aside and began getting the materials ready to start the meal.

* * *

"You've got this Yamcha!"

The cheer from Bulma was joined by a few others as they watched their friend face off against his opponent in the tournament.

Vegeta shouting out "Whose side are you on, woman?!" caused the others to laugh with 21 being one of the few trying to contain her amusement, settling for yelling out a general cheer to show her support for the both of them.

Goku was smiling wide as he witnessed his long-time rival struggle against taking on the former bandit, Vegeta's eyes were constantly darting from looking at Yamcha to making sure he wasn't getting diverted towards the stones that formed a semi-circle, representing the edge of their makeshift ring, or towards the water which also counted as being out of bounds. With that distracting him, the Saiyan was struggling to counter and retaliate against Yamcha's relentless assault.

Sure, give him another minute or two and the man's spatial awareness would kick in, allowing him to focus completely on the fight, but it seemed like the Baseball champ was aware of that, and was doing his best to keep Vegeta distracted with a relentless string of attacks.

"I don't think I've seen Yamcha that motivated in a long time." Krillin commented as he strode up to Goku, using one of the towels to dry himself off having lost against his best friend by means of a water ring-out. Sure, it was disappointing that he lost in the very first match, but considering who he had been up against, the man wasn't going to waste energy complaining about it.

"He's definitely having a lot more fun than he does during those baseball games." Goku agreed, watching Vegeta get knocked back with a well-aimed palm strike. He narrowed his a little when a hint of the Saiyan's power began to leak out, obviously from frustration, but relaxed as it was reigned back in almost instantly. No one seemed to notice the minor slipup, but that could have been because they were enjoying the spectacle to much.

"Might be because he knows how much it will bother Vegeta if he wins." Krillin added with the slightest of smirks, resting the towel around his shoulders. He almost yelped as the sent of alcohol assaulted his senses as Master Roshi draped an arm around his towel-d shoulders.

"Not to mention it would make me a pretty penny with how much I'm betting on him!" the Turtle hermit said, taking a drink from his bottle before throwing out his own cheer. "Kick his ass Yamcha!"

Krillin raised a hand up to his ear that was currently being yelled into, rolling his eyes and sharing a look with his best friend.

Goku's smile widened in response and offered up a shrug before turning back to the fight.

"I can't believe I agreed to something so ludicrous." Vegeta stumbled back while blocking a series of rapid punches, twisting his body around and taking a few side steps to avoid having his back facing the edge of the arena. Taking a quite stock of his surrounding showed that he was closer to the water than he would like, but that was all he could process before forcing up a knee to intercept Yamcha's. The Saiyan glared at his opponents smirking face, making a silent promise to wipe that look off.

"You know, I always wondered what it would be like to fight you on even ground." Yamcha crouched low to the ground to avoid the roundhouse kick aimed for his chest, punishing the move by attacking the exposed leg with a series of three consecutive punches. "And I got to say, I'm not disappointed."

Vegeta gave a grunt and a glare. "It must be nice knowing the only way to face me is with this ridiculous handicap."

"Said the man who took everyone he could find just to beat Goku." Yamcha shot back.

"HA!" Roshi laughed off in the distance, further enraging Vegeta.

Unfortunately, that rage would be the last mistake the Saiyan made as Yamcha took full advantage of Vegeta turning his gaze to send a murderous glare towards the old master. With the grace of a wolf, the Bandit lashed out with his foot, striking his opponent's ankle and was satisfied hearing the yell of pain.

A hasty punch was thrown to try and ward off any other assault, but it was quickly batted away and countered with a much more precise palm strike. Skidding back just a bit from the force, Vegeta felt a shred of horror as his heel began to feel wet and looking back confirmed that he was at the very edge of the zone.

And then his head twisted further than before and Yamcha finished the match with a spinning kick, sending the man into the air, allowing him to rotate a few times before crashing into the water.

Those who had already been cheering gave off one more thunderous yell while those who were far more subdued finally joined in to congratulate the man. The only one not joining in the initial celebration was Goku, oddly enough, with the Saiyan walking forward, giving Yamcha a pat on the back along the way, and reaching his rival.

Vegeta was merely floating on his back with a pensive frown, only managing to not get carried away by the current by keeping a single foot planted in the ground.

"So, what did you think?" Goku asked without a care in the world, knowing full well there was a chance the man would blast him in response.

There was a moment of silence between the two as the others got ready to start up the next match.

"It was… different." Vegeta finally offered, ignoring the hand being offered in favor of getting up himself. "I wouldn't be opposed to doing this again, but the results would be far different if I end up going against that man again."

Declaration made, the Saiyan strode past his rival to join his wife and son along the sidelines, the former already offering a towel while the latter held out a plate of food. Both were accepted, and Goku quietly laughed as he rejoined the main group to watch the next match.

-0-

Without a doubt, the battle between the Saiyan Prince and the Baseball Champion was going to be considered an absolute treat for those that witnessed it. It was probably going to be the highlight of every one's day.

Vegeta would find himself the subject of a great deal of jokes, and no amount of threats managed to deter anyone.

21 faced off against Tien in the next match. The years of muscle memory programed into her body, along with the great deal of training she went through with Goku and Chichi allowed the Android to perform extremely well against the man, but the sheer difference in actual experience between them became apparent in the end as Tien directed the flow of combat.

She didn't even realize she had lost until the whistle had been blown with the Crane user being declared the victor by a knockout.

It was a little embarrassing for 21 to lose that way, especially since she had avoided taking more than a few hits while landing a decent number on him.

"You did well." he complimented as the two of them walked out of the ring. Tien rolled his arm around to try and loosen it up. "If I hadn't been doing this for my entire life, I probably wouldn't have pulled off a win."

 _An easy win._ 21 added, knowing the two of them were thinking it. "You know, I've been doing this my whole life too." She joked, figuring it would be better not to linger on the defeat.

All three of his eyes gave her a deadpan look. "Ha ha." The man was clearly suppressing a smile, he had to, it was a pretty funny joke.

The two of them raised their hands to catch a bottle of water that 18 kindly tossed to them, with 21 offering Tien one more 'congratulations' before walking off to join the blond Android.

"I thought you were going to beat him." 18 said once she was close enough, her eyes focused on the arena as Piccolo and Chichi made their way onto it. "Not much of a fighter myself though, so I didn't see what was happening until it was over."

21 hummed in agreement, feeling her stomach fall as the Namekian and Princess dropped into their respective stances, knowing that battle was already decided. In no way was it because she didn't believe in Chichi, but there was no denying she hadn't properly trained in over a decade.

"Experience makes all the difference." The brunette explained, wondering how well she'd fair after another year of practice. She blinked when the thought finished, and the woman found herself turning to send a mock glare over towards Goku, who just so happened to be looking back with a giant grin as if he knew what was going through her head.

All things considering, he probably did.

21 wanted to smack that stupid look right off.

"Are you going to explain what that glare is all about or should I leave so you two can keep looking into each other's eyes?"

The harsh look moved over to 18, and much to 21's annoyance, she was smirking at her with mirth shining in those eyes.

"It's nothing." She finally replied, making it a point to turn away from _both_ of them in order to focus on the match. Only to realize with a start that it was already almost over.

It was clear Chichi was putting up quite a fight if the sweat and focus she was showing were any indicator, but the way Piccolo was deflecting every strike with practiced ease made it clear it wasn't difficult for him. With one final punch to the gut, Chichi was knocked out of the ring and landed on the ground with a sharp exhale.

"She did well." Bulma said from 21's other side, leaving the Android to wonder when the woman had approached her.

18 shrugged in response. "Not like she stood much of a chance to begin with."

"Honestly, we both kinda expected this to happen." The Bio-Android admitted. There was only so much they could do with less than two weeks. "But I think she was glad to have a chance to do this."

"Chichi does look pretty proud of herself."

The three of them took another look towards the subject of their conversation, and sure enough, the woman was walking back towards her family with an earnest grin that shined through the occasional grimace. That look grew even brighter when her family surrounded her with various degree of concern, though, Goku himself appeared the least worried as he carefully handed the woman something to drink.

"Next match is the last one in this round." Bulma pointed out, drawing 18 and 21's attention towards the board they were using to keep track of things, with Goten, Trunks, and Marron being the ones marking it. Or at least, the latter two were since one of them was busy at the moment. "I almost feel bad for Tien and Yamcha. Whoever wins their match will have to face off against Goku before being able to move on."

"Feel bad for whoever has to face Roshi in the finals." 18's brows were drawn together with some emotion neither Bulma nor 21 could pinpoint, but both could tell it wasn't positive. "He's probably the best fighter out of everyone, and he won't have to face anyone until the end."

21 couldn't help but place a hand over her face and groan. "I know it's not ideal, but with the odd amount of people fighting, we couldn't really form a nice bracket."

"Sounds rough." 18 commented, her tone conveying mild sarcasm. She actually laughed when her friend smacked her arm.

-0-

Gohan and Videl ended up having a fairly close match with the victory going to the Half-Saiyan when he tossed his fiancée over the shoulder and into the water. When he offered her a hand, she ended up pulling him in as well.

It had earned a chuckle out of almost everyone, Vegeta actually gave a snort at the display between the two until Bulma fixed him with a look that made the man look away as the slightest amount of blood rushed into his cheeks.

There was a ten-minute break between rounds in which Goten and Trunks cleaned up the makeshift ring as Marron finished marking the tournament bracket while the those who were still fighting performed stretches, cooled off by splashing water in their face, or in Goku's case, ate several plates worth of food.

Partway through, 21 realized that Master Roshi was nowhere to be seen or sensed. A little worried the old hermit had wondered off in some kind of drunken stupor, she approached Goku and brought this up. He had waved off her worry, his tail performing the exact same gesture as his hand, claiming he knew where the man was.

She pressed the Saiyan to tell her what was going on but received no further explanation on the matter. So, with cheeks puffed out in slight indignation, 21 went back to talking with her friends until the second round started up.

When it did, 21 couldn't help but feel a little confused when Bulma, Krillin, and Goku got together and began talking just quietly enough so the rest could only hear snippets of their conversation. Tien and Yamcha seemed to be aware of something too as they both approached the arena with excited looks.

"Can't help but feel like I'm out of the loop." Videl said, wearing far more casual clothes after changing out of her fighting uniform.

"That's because you are." Piccolo stated to the young woman, catching 21's interest as well. "Tien and Yamcha have fought against each other before in the Worlds Martial Arts Tournament. I wasn't born yet when that happened, but it didn't go well from what I heard. Tien apparently broke Yamcha's leg."

"Seriously?!" she gasped, not quite loud enough for others to hear.

The Namekian nodded. "That was a long time ago. I'm almost sure both men are more excited about this rematch than anyone else."

"Who do you think will win it?" 21 chimed in, curious about his opinion.

"Tien."

Sure enough, Piccolo's prediction came true several minutes later as the man swept the former Bandit's legs out from under him, knocking him to the ground where Tien proceeded to put Yamcha into a grapple that could not be broken. When Krillin called out "Ten!" the hold was released, and the two men were quickly exchanging compliments as they joined the main group.

"Wish they would get a room already." 18 muttered to 21, and the poor brunette ended up shooting water out of her nose having made the mistake of drinking when the comment was made.

There was no doubt that the previous match had been nostalgic for several of the members, but the next one was certainly one of the most meaningful as Gohan and Piccolo squared off against one another.

As soon as it started, both men were upon each other, throwing out attacks with such intensity that some of the observers wondered if they were using their power.

But the fact that Goku wasn't saying anything about it meant that wasn't true. Even so, it was almost startling to see the Saiyan watching the battle with a great amount of focus. All signs of cheer gone, in its place was stern discipline that was normally reserved for battles.

Back and forth the two opponents went. Bringing each other to the very edge before one or the other threw themselves towards the center to stay in the fight.

Gohan was the first to show actual damage as bruises started showing across his body, the match going on long enough for ugly splotches of purple to appear. Piccolo must have been actively suppressing his regeneration since his own skin started changing color as well. Neither slowed down though.

It wasn't until a full fifteen minutes had passed that the fight started shifting in someone's favor.

No one was quite sure how it happened, but Gohan started fighting with even more ferocity. His attacks landed harder than before, his body contorted to odd angles to avoid strikes that he normally wouldn't have been able to avoid, and his breathing refined itself until it was functioning at its absolute max.

No one knew what was happening, no one but the Saiyans that is.

They knew his instincts were in full control. Without anything clouding his mind, Gohan was fighting with the full battle prowess of a Saiyan, and the calm focus of a human.

In that state, both Goku and Vegeta knew not a single person would have been able to beat the young man in that moment.

The last blow was brutally delivered in the form of a rising kick to Piccolo's chin. So much force was held in that single move. Enough to actually lift the Namekian off the ground, into the air, and out of the ring.

No one said a word in the following moments, the only noise that could be heard were the labored breaths from the two that had fought with their all given the circumstances. It took Krillin almost a full minute to regain his composure and declare the hybrid as the winner.

Everyone's cheer came together to form a thunderous applause.

Goku couldn't have looked any more proud as he wrapped an arm around his eldest son to pull him away from the arena. Goten was by the young man's other side, looking up at him as if he were the coolest person on the planet.

A senzu bean was offered to make sure Gohan would be recovered by the next match. Piccolo himself merely allowed his regeneration to kick in, taking less than a second to remove all signs of battle.

The Namekian and hybrid made brief eye contact, the former offering a solid nod that made the latter beam with pure elation.

It was almost sad to say that people were still focused on congratulating, complimenting, or questioning Gohan by the time the next match started. There was a lot of history between Goku and Tien as well, but once again, there were only a few people who could really appreciate it as the two men battled it out for a third time.

Needless to say, the battle was well fought.

Goku was the one who managed to pull off a win in the end, having pulled off a rather unorthodox fighting method that seemed to incorporate parts from both the Turtle and Crane schools. It proved to be effective enough to confuse Tien, causing the Ex-Assassin to slip up one-too many times.

It was clear to see after the match was called that Tien was rather disappointed at the loss, but underneath that, and quickly rising to the surface, was a desire to get better to try again.

21 once again found herself being impressed by the subtle manipulation that was taking place in this last-minute tournament. There was no doubt in the Android's mind that another one would take place next year, maybe even sooner depending on how the group felt.

But it was something to think about later as another round came to an end.

-0-

"You nervous?"

Gohan looked up from where he was sitting to see Videl gazing back with genuine curiosity. He shook his head and smiled. "Excited actually. I think I can beat him."

The young woman hummed, leaning down to press a solid kiss against his lips. "For luck." She whispered after they parted, jumping away with a yelp when someone cleared their throat behind them.

"How about you save that for _after_ the fight?" Krillin suggested with a sly look aimed at the two of them.

"Hehe, right…" Gohan scratched the back of his head, a great deal of heat creeping up his neck with the same happening to Videl.

"You've got this big brother!" Goten cheered with a banner supporting Gohan held over his head.

Goku actually whined. "Goten…"

But the youngest actually seemed to have him covered as well. Pointing to the side showed Trunks holding a similar sign in support of Goku, and surprisingly, Vegeta was standing behind his son, waving a miniature flag that had the other Saiyan's head on it.

The man looked like he wanted to be anywhere else but there.

"Aw… you do care."

It was a testament to Vegeta's control when the flag didn't snap like a twig in his grip. "J-Just shut up and fight, Kakarot!"

Deciding now was as good of time as any, Krillin started the match and leapt away just in time to avoid getting caught in-between the two.

Unlike the fight against Piccolo though, Gohan appeared to turn the tide of this battle far quicker than before, doing so within the first five minutes in-fact. Goku still managed to hold off his son from winning outright for a little while afterwards, but it was obvious to see the younger man was building up momentum that simply couldn't be stopped.

When the final blow came, Goku, for intents and purposes, looked as if he were the happiest man alive. At least until the punch connected with his cheek, knocking the upper half of his body into the river.

"And that's the match!" Krillin called out with a big grin.

21's cheer was a little more subdued compared to some of the others, she was happy for the son, but there was no doubt she had been more in Goku's favor. Still though, it was nice to see Gohan faring so well against veteran fighters.

But where the hell was Roshi?

Her questioned was answered almost immediately when the man who had come up with this whole event told everyone they were moving closer to the nearby mountain.

The flight there ended as soon as it began, and the group could see Roshi himself sitting on a circular, stone platform housed in the center of a waterfall fed lake.

"Bout time you lot finished up!" the old man declared, his shirt and sunglasses nowhere to be seen. "So… who's facing up against the Turtle Hermit?"

Gohan stepped forward and floated over towards the stage. "I am." The young man said.

A brow was raised in slight surprise. "Well ain't that something."

"Alright. Alright." Krillin appeared between the two and waited for them to get into their respective stances. "This is the final match of the tournament. Fighters ready?"

A nod was given by both of them.

"Begin!"

Gohan slowly emptied his lung, and then charged forward to engage the master.

From the sidelines, 21 watched with the others as the fight played out, and part-way through, the Android realized exactly what a lifetime of experience could mean. Gohan was fighting harder, faster, and better than Roshi was, no one would deny that, but the Hermit was always the one in control.

He was the one dictating the rhythm between the two. Even when the younger fighter landed a solid hit, there was an impression that that had been planned.

"So that's what a master fighter looks like." 21 whispered, eyes transfixed on the way Roshi seemed to be able to read Gohan like a book, anticipating moves that hadn't even finished forming yet and countering them when they did.

"It's something else alright." Goku agreed.

No one was surprised when the battle ended in Roshi's favor. 18's previous prediction had been spot on, and none there thought they would have fared any better.

"Ha! Still got it!" the old man declared, puffing out his chest with pride.

-0-

When most of the Son family returned to the house, their mood was understandably high. With the fights over, everyone had decided it was time to go. Goku had made sure to ask around before the group left about if they wanted to do this again or not and was pleased when a unanimous 'yes' had been declared.

Needless to say, he looked ready to burst with excitement.

"Alright, Goten. Why don't you go inside and get changed? You can help me out with dinner tonight." Chichi instructed, smoothing a few wrinkles out of her outfit in the process.

"Ok." There was a hint of a whine in the boy's response, but the mother let it slide when no other protest was made.

As soon as the hybrid was out of sight, Goku leaned forward with his hands planted on his hips. "You had fun doing this, right?"

It was a rhetorical question, all of them had seen how into it the woman had been. Chichi let out a longwinded sigh as she raised a hand to cup her husband's cheek, moving to plant a kiss on the other one. "I did." Her eyes immediately hardened as her hand moved away. "But don't think that means you can fight whenever you want."

"Yeah… I know." The Saiyan knew that. It was a little disappointing, but all things considering, it wasn't unexpected.

"Good." Chichi nodded, satisfied, but more importantly, happy. She then turned to 21 and moved to wrap her arms around the Android for a hug. "And thank you for getting me to agree to this, I haven't had this much fun in a while."

21 was momentarily shocked by the sudden gesture, but easily got over it to return it. "I'm glad."

"Now than," the woman started, releasing the hug, "I need to get dinner started."

"I'll help out once I've changed!" the Android offered, getting a gratified thumbs-up.

There was a moment of silence that lingered until the housewife disappeared into the house, one that lasted for a few more moments until 21 questioned her friend.

"You knew, didn't you?"

The innocent look he tried to send her was betrayed by his twitching lips. "What do you mean?"

"That everyone would want to do this again if you got them to participate." 21 accused, jabbing a finger into his chest.

Goku held up his arms in surrender. "Ok, so I _may_ have known they would have wanted to try this out just for fun, and that giving them less than two weeks to properly prepare wouldn't be nearly enough for most. With such a small timeframe to improve, almost no one would have been able to say they were at their best if they lost. Those who lost would want to try again after training a lot more while those who won would want to improve to keep up the victory."

21 leaned back with crossed arms, leveling a smirk at the man before her. "Oh, you are _evil._ "

He chuckled at that, and she joined in as well.

"I'm still glad it went so well." Goku said once his laughter was under control. His features melted into something far more earnest, and 21 felt her cheeks heat up at the grateful smile. "Thanks for helping Chichi have fun with this. It means a lot to me."

"It was my pleasure." The Android turned her head a little to the side, unable to maintain the look while tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "We should head inside, don't want to miss out on dinner after all."

"Oh yeah! Let's go!"

21 followed after the enthusiastic man with a content smile, ready to enjoy another wonderful meal with this family.

* * *

 **Not much to say down here either. Thanks to everyone who looks at this story, and I'll see you all next time!**


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